My thinking is that if it was heads up, yes bet out . . . but it was 3 players at the time. . . I am guessing one of them has a weaker made hand and the other has a draw . . . yeah we can't get a draw to fold even if we C/R.

You are right. There is no way to know that they will bet into us and its not worth the risk of giving a free card to a draw: betting out is best