Football legend Joe Theismann previews the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 8 opponent
This week, Chiefs Wire's Ed Easton Jr. spoke to Washington Commanders and NFL legend Joe Theismann about his participation in this year's American Century Championship, which will take place July 9-13 at Edgewood Tahoe, and his thoughts on the Washington Commanders' growth before their Week 8 2025 regular season matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.
"The American Century Championship does so much good. I mean, they raise so much money for the Stowers Institute. Since 2000, over $2 billion has been raised for research," said Theismann, "and there are so many wonderful things that American Century does that make it so much fun. I'd say being there with the people and, of course, the fans, we're expecting 70,000 people for this tournament, the way it's been the last couple of years, 750,000 in prize money, of which I'd like to get just a little bit. But yeah, it's terrific just meeting people."
Theismann played his entire NFL career with the then-Washington Redskins, earning a league MVP award and a Super Bowl title. He is excited about the development of last year's NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year, Jayden Daniels, as the team's franchise quarterback.
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"What a great young man he (Jayden Daniels) is. I mean, he's a great person. He has a great work ethic and incredible abilities. He has an innate ability to understand situations and circumstances. The one thing I'm probably more proud of him than anything is that he's learning to protect himself. Because you can't learn standing on the sidelines, you can't learn trying in a training room, trying to get healthy, and Jayden has the ability to protect himself," said Theismann, "He had that one stretch where he didn't get a chance to finish a game. But other than that, he's smart and knows how to care for himself, understands the game, and does everything he can to be as good as possible. Dan's (Quinn) done a terrific job. I think Kliff Kingsbury has done a wonderful job handling the offense around him. We've added Deebo (Samuel), and some other pieces have come in. Laremy Tunsil has come in on the O-line. I thought the draft went really well. They didn't have many choices, but they hit the spots they needed to: offensive line, corner, wide receiver, running back. I'm excited about where this football team is going, plus, we look like we're going to get a new stadium down in the old site, so that's wonderful too."
Washington was a victory away from potentially meeting the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX with their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game. The two teams are scheduled to meet on October 27th for Monday Night Football in Week 8 at Arrowhead Stadium.
"I think they'll (Commanders) challenge. Last year's last five games were where we wanted to win a bunch of nail-biters, and the schedule is really tough. I mean, we've got the Lions, we've got the Chiefs, we've got the Broncos. We have to travel to Madrid and play Miami when you're good, but suddenly, the schedule changes," said Theismann, "You wind up playing Division champions, and it's a different kind of schedule. But I believe this team has tempered itself to be ready to do what they need to do, to be able to go, and then obviously, the way the NFL has set up the scheduling; we finished the last four games against Division rivals. You get the Giants, then the Eagles, the Cowboys, and the Eagles in the last month. So it's going to be an interesting schedule. I think this football team is ready for it."
The annual tournament awards $750,000 in prize money, much of which the celebrity players donate to local and national charities. Over the years, nearly $8 million has been donated to non-profit causes. Network television exposure on NBC and a first-place prize of $150,000 make the celebrity tournament one of the most prestigious in the golf world.
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Check out the website for more information about the American Century Championship .
This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Football legend Joe Theismann previews the Chiefs' Week 8 opponent
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