Agreed. If the only problem was he wanted to get paid, they wouldn’t have traded him for a third round pick when they would get a third round comp pick for him the next year. The team was gearing up for their Super Bowl run at the time, so they wouldn’t have sent him to the Browns merely because they couldn’t extend him. He was becoming somewhere between a limited role player and a liability. Moving up from bottom of third round in 2018 draft to top of third round in 2017 draft was a good enough value return to send him packing.
It also sent a message to the team, which I don’t think should be overlooked. No one is safe if they don’t buy into the system, regardless of their reputation.