CFL sack champion Charleston Hughes played with bone chip in elbow for Riders last season

Photo courtesy: Scott Grant/CFLPhotoArchive.com

Charleston Hughes led the CFL in sacks while playing with essentially one arm for part of the 2019 season.

“He had an elbow injury, it wasn’t going to cause further damage, but it was painful, he had a bone chip in there and couldn’t extend it fully. He played through it and it didn’t bother him that much, he was still fairly productive,” Dickenson said on Growing The Game With Ballsy, hosted by CKRM’s Michael Ball.

The 36-year-old notched a league-best 16 quarterback takedowns — Hughes has topped the league in sacks five times during his career: 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. He felt he was snubbed for the West Division Most Outstanding Defensive Player award.

“He’s a warrior, he’s played through a number of injuries, his pain threshold is different than other people. His off-season work has gotta be really big this year, I’ve talked to him a couple of times,” Dickenson said.

“When you get a little bit older, father time does beat us all eventually, but the guys that can stave off father time best are the guys that understand how to train and really take care of their bodies, in the off-season and during the season, to be able to play the best they can.”

Even though Hughes was playing hurt he managed six sacks in the final eight games of the season and added five tackles and one quarterback takedown in the West Final. Hughes had surgery in December and is expected to make a full recovery.