RIDERS CUT CHARLESTON HUGHES

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have released American defensive end Charleston Hughes. 

Hughes was scheduled to become a free agent on February 9.  

“After ongoing negotiations that took place over the last several weeks, we were unable to come to an agreement with Charleston,” said Vice President of Football Operations Jeremy O’Day. “While we are disappointed, we want to thank Charleston for his dedication to the Riders and to the Saskatchewan community during his time with the Club.” 

Hughes signed with the Roughriders after being traded to Saskatchewan in February of 2018. He went on to play 34 regular season games in green and white, making 85 defensive tackles, 31 sacks, seven forced fumbles and scoring two touchdowns. He also played in two playoff games making six tackles and a sack. Hughes was a CFL All-Star both seasons he played for the Riders and was the team’s 2019 nominee for Most Outstanding Defensive Player. Prior to coming to the Riders, Hughes played 10 seasons with the Calgary Stampeders and won two Grey Cup Championships. 

(Riders PR)

In an Instagram Live interview with The Rod Pedersen Show, Hughes had these comments:

RP: How you feeling?

CH: I’m alright man. It was a mutual agreement though. We both felt like we needed to part ways. It really just came down to we couldn’t agree on anything. I made my offers, (Jeremy O’Day) made his offers and we had a brick wall put up between us. Every offer I made he turned down, and every offer he made I turned down. I gave my last and final go at it today and offered myself a paycut to try to make it work and it still didn’t work.

RP: Was there an issue with the timing of the release?

CH: It’s not ideal. When we came to a mutual agreement that ‘Look man, I want to be let go early, if we can’t come to an agreement, why sit up here and wait all the way to free agency?’ but at the same time I did want to wait a couple days at least because the players have this government assistance coming up. If I’d waited till about February 6, I would’ve collected all my government assistance also. But he didn’t feel the need to let me wait till February 6 so this expedited the situation. That’s the only part that sucks about it because I at least could’ve got an extra $300-$400 but whatever. It is what it is.

RP: Did your interview on our show Tuesday change anything? A day afterwards you were released. The timing seems odd to me.

CH: Timing-wise it just seems odd because I feel they already had their mind up; they just wanted to hear it from me. The same thing I said yesterday in the interview is that I don’t feel like they wanted me back anyways. If they wanted me back, I’d have been back right? So if a team wants you, and a shoutout to Craig Dickenson and all those guys, they’re professional. I loved playing for Dickie, I loved playing for Shives but when it came time to being wanted, I wasn’t wanted.

Another team reached out to me and expressed how bad they wanted me. They made me feel comfortable with knowing that, ‘If you do make it to free agency, this is what we got for you’.

RP: What have you learned in the last week or two?

CH: The one thing I learned is that this is a tough business. What makes it even more tough is when you’re like me, doing it by yourself. Trying to punch numbers, talk to teams and operate yourself. When it all boils down to it, you really gotta look out for yourself as a player because the teams, they do care a little bit but I feel like the people that care the most are the fans. The fans care about you just as much as your family does but when it comes to the teams, it’s only to a certain extent. When it comes to a certain point where you feel you’re not valued or wanted, you gotta move on and do the best for yourself.

RP: You felt you shouldn’t have had to take a paycut? Is that correct?

CH: My stance was I don’t have to take a paycut but in the end I’ll take a paycut to stay in Saskatchewan. But I have to be able to take that paycut in a way that I’m still comfortable too. I’m not going to take a paycut from somebody that’s slapping a contract in front of me and saying ‘This is the way I want it so take it or leave it’. No! That’s not the way I’m comfortable about it. If there’s no say-so in what’s going on with a contract, that’s not a negotiation. I wouldn’t say they didn’t bend a little bit. They gave a little bit but when you give a little bit starting on your side and I give a little bit starting on my side, I felt like I was giving up more than what they were so like I said, it can’t work like that. It has to at least work like we’re both sacrificing at a point in time and when it comes to that, you know you’re seeing from each other’s point of view.

RP: Do you have other offers?

CH: Right now I think that there’s still one other team that’s probably still interested but if I don’t hear from any other teams in the next couple days I’m going to go ahead and make my decision and throw all my eggs in one basket and I’ll be fully committed to it. I definitely have an offer right now from somebody.