Another No. 1 overall pick offers up surprising Caleb Williams take

At least the Caleb Williams controversy involving Seth Wickersham's coming book on quarterbacks provides former NFL QBs a chance to regain the limelight, even if it is with their mouths rather than their arms.

Long before the book and article, all the way back to predraft, Robert Griffin III was urging Williams to do what it was reported he and father Carl were considering and that was to refuse to come to Chicago because of the shameful history of Bears QB development.

That one led to GM Ryan Poles going on the Pat McAfee Show with a bit of anger in his voice.

"It pisses me off a little bit, to be honest with you, because we were hired to break a cycle," Poles told McAfee.

Then, last week, it was Boomer Esiason calling Williams "entitled" and other QBs like Kurt Warner and Chase Daniel weighing in on whether the Seth Wickersham book revelations about the Bears rookie being ignored while watching game film was even possible in today's NFL.

Now, it's one player who can at least say he has been in Williams' shoes before he popped off.

STUDY REVEALS CALEB WILLIAMS IS NO "CHECKDOWN CHARLIE"

This QB agreed on a few counts with Esiason and, surprisingly, it was Cam Newton.

The first pick of the 2011 draft portrayed himself as Superman often even during games, a nickname given to Williams. If anyone would come down on Williams' side of the predraft debate you'd think it would be the colorful Newton, who is known for his attire—not completely unlike the self-styled Bears QB.

"It was a strong take," Newton said of Esiason's "entitled" label. "But he's not wrong. We are living in the golden era of entitlement, and I hate that for sports as a whole, right? Whether it's the parent or the player.

"Now some of the things that he said is really not Caleb's fault. Performance aside, you still need 10 players more to do their job. It's not solely predicated on Caleb's performance of why the Bears' (2024) season was what it was. I mean, you have a situation where they have a game won and you lose to a Hail Mary. So you want Caleb to go out there and deflect the ball or, you know bat the ball down? So it's more to that than what the story entails basically."

Still, Newton says players should keep their mouths shut and get drafted rather than put on the predraft charade or think they're going to do what Eli Manning did by getting sent to another team.

"But for the gist of it, keep your mouth shut is something that a lot of guys should adhere to because when you think about what the expectations is, nobody really cares when you were drafted, bro."

- Cam Newton to Caleb Williams

"That is a one-and-done situation," he said of Manning, and pointed to what happened this year with Deion Sanders and his son Shedeur as proof.

"But for the gist of it, keep your mouth shut is something that a lot of guys should adhere to because when you think about what the expectations is, nobody really cares when you were drafted bro. Nobody cares about your back story in college bro, who you're dating bro? Nobody really cares about that. It's like how are you gonna do or uphold your end of the bargain to be the best, a part of the 11 that's out there that can put the team in the best situation to win, straight up."

The future is what Williams, himself, is pointed at and going back to rehash the predraft stuff is largely a way to stir up hits on the internet for people. There is some merit to it, like if Williams was so keen on Minnesota, would the Bears be in danger of losing their QB in the future when his contract expires?

Williams says he loves it in Chicago now. The only really relevant part of the story on this book by Wickersham is discussion about film review.

Newton went on to quote one highly respected coach when talking about how the future shapes up for Williams.

"In the words of Mike Tomlin, 'We want volunteers not hostages,' " Newton said. "But in this particular case, he's under contract."

Newton's thoughts are the Bears move ahead.

"He has so much promise with skill that you would hope that this is just water up under the bridge and we can move forward," Newton said.

He also expressed the hope Bears fans could do the same and simply ignore the entire thing so maybe it goes away.

"What you all gonna do, release him just because he didn't want to be a Chicago Bear? He's there now. and you know, it's just not a good look but he's gonna be there," Newton added.

Ignoring it is easier said than done, and wait until the season opener when the Bears are playing the Vikings.

Then the real hype about the book will begin.