As individual coaches try to convince themselves of reasons that a player might struggle coming into the NFL, one has pointed to Caleb Williams playing in Lincoln Riley's offense as a red flag.

Speaking to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, an anonymous NFL coordinator explained why Riley's system may negatively impact Williams coming into the pros:

"The transition scares me for some of these guys where it's just, set, hike, find the open man," the coordinator said. "And you've seen guys like Kyler [Murray] and Baker [Mayfield] struggle with the transition at times."

Citing Murray and Mayfield as negative examples of the transition from Riley's college offense to the NFL is a bit strange.

Cleveland Browns fans were ready to anoint Mayfield as a franchise quarterback in 2018 when he threw for 3,725 yards and a then-rookie record 27 touchdowns in 13 starts.

Murray was named Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019 after racking up 3,722 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, 544 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Bowl in back-to-back years in 2020 and 2021.

For most of the 2021 season, Murray was the frontrunner to win NFL MVP before the Arizona Cardinals faded down the stretch.

Both players have had periods of inconsistency in the NFL, but there's no indication that's a product of Riley's system so much as it is just how they play and the quality of some of the teams they have played with.

The coordinator did praise Murray embracing the Cardinals' new play-action scheme in 2023 under head coach Jonathan Gannon and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, while also citing that as a "good blueprint for Caleb to learn from early."

If we assume the Chicago Bears are going to take Williams with the No. 1 pick, new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron's unit ranked in the middle of the pack in play-action usage over the past two seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

Waldron might adjust his scheme with the Bears to fit what Williams' strengths are, but if his rookie season ends up "only" looking like what Mayfield did in 2018 or Murray did in 2019, that would still be one of the best individual seasons for a quarterback in the history of the Bears franchise.