Right: you have the underslung engine pitch effect from the engine thrust, and in the MAX an additional pitch force applied by airflow under the big-ass fan shroud. It was this latter force tbat would be unfamiliar to 737 pilots, and that MCAS was supposed to hide.
It didn't vary with engine thrust, but only with airspeed at a high attack angle.
Moving the engines backwards or forward doesn't affect thrust related pitch moment.