“I gave him some advice based on how my last Roughrider spurt went. Before I came back the second time, I left and went to Toronto, and I kind of told him the same thing, man. It’s like, look, now you gotta do what’s best for you but the thing is, probably the worst mistake of my career was leaving Saskatchewan and going to play in TO,” Johnson said.
Hughes was coming off his sixth career CFL all-star selection and was the league’s reigning sack leader when he signed with Toronto in 2021. What followed was the worst season of his career, as he dressed for just nine games while making 18 defensive tackles and two sacks.
While age played a role in the defensive end’s decline, he believes his relationship with the Argos’ coaching staff was to blame for the situation. Hughes had spent time with head coach Ryan Dinwiddie when he was an assistant in Calgary and followed defensive line coach Mike Davis from the Riders. However, the group was working together for the first time and defensive coordinator Glenn Young left partway through the season, with Rich Stubler and Chris Jones coming in to steady the ship.
“It put me in a situation where I was with a bunch of new coaches. I was with guys who I really didn’t know,” Hughes recalled. “I love my teammates that I was there with, it was just I was around a bunch of coaches that I really didn’t know like I thought I did and it definitely didn’t work out.”
The now 41-year-old was released by Toronto after that year and returned to Saskatchewan for the final season of his career in 2022. He played eight games, generating 11 tackles, four sacks, and three forced fumbles, but was not offered another contract.
Hughes believes he didn’t pay enough attention to situational fit when first leaving the organization, but acknowledges that not every player is so reliant on what is around them.
“It just depends. It depends on age. It depends on a lot of different factors. Man, when you’re somebody like Geno Lewis, when you’re the top player in the league at receiver and hands down, you’re an impact player, no matter what team you go to, you’re going to change the game for that team,” Hughes remarked. “He’s an impact player, so that rule don’t apply to him. You go wherever you feel like you’re going to have the biggest impact, you got a good quarterback chemistry, and you’re going to get the most money.”
As for Johnson, Hughes encouraged the 36-year-old to consider the stage of his career before chasing a larger pay-day. The result of that conversation was a new deal in Regina.
“I just told him, ‘You’re on the backend of your career, you don’t got a lot of play left, but you’re playing at a high level where you can still steal a couple more years out of a team,'” Hughes said. “I was like, ‘It’s best to stay where you’re the most comfortable.’ That’s just the best advice I can give him at the time.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders finished second in the West Division in 2024 with a record of 9-8-1 and defeated the B.C. Lions in the West Semi-Final before losing the West Final to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The team will open the 2025 CFL regular season against the Ottawa Redblacks at Mosaic Stadium on Thursday, June 5 with kickoff slated for 9:00 p.m. EDT.
