My take is that Watchmen isn't worth adapting unless it goes the extra mile. It was a comic that was a very specific and special reaction to comics before it. Snyder's version was a faithful adaptation that, by sticking so close, lost the soul of the material.
Lindelof has some duds, sure, but he is absolutely willing to betray the audience and do what he feels is necessary to tell the story he wants to tell, for better or worse (this approach payed off so, so much with The Leftovers), and that is precisely what a proper Watchmen adaptation would require. It needs to be a reaction to the current landscape of superhero television and movies, otherwise what's the fuckin' point.