CFL legend Charleston Hughes compares Hamilton Tiger-Cats' quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell's 2025 goal of winning the Grey Cup and retiring to another great player.
"I heard John Bowman say that about six times and he stuck around," Hughes chuckled while on the SportsCage. "I was waiting on John Bowman to finish up so I could pass him in sacks, but he still stuck around for about another five or six years."
Hughes retired after the 2022 season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and finished fifth all-time in sacks with 136. Bowman, who retired in 2019 with the Montreal Alouettes, ranks seventh with 134.
Hughes believes Mitchell's decision to keep playing beyond 2025 will depend on his motivation. He knows players who have gone out on top after winning the Grey Cup.
"What's his motivation to play? How much more can they pay him to come back? He said he might not come back, but if they say: 'Hey, we'll pay you $2 million to come back next year.' I bet he rethinks that," Hughes explained.
"Henry Burris did it, he walked away after he won that Grey Cup in Ottawa. He didn't touch the field anymore after that. For any player, it depends on what's your continuous motivation. After you win a Grey Cup like that, do you break more personal records? Is it more personal goals? Maybe he's checked off all of his personal goals and he has nothing else to prove. So your motivation to play kind of diminishes, really."
CFL training camps are underway. For Hughes, his initial start in pro football did not go as planned because he was cut by the Calgary Stampeders in 2008.
"I didn't even believe it. I thought I was the best player, the best option, but I sucked at special teams," Hughes said.
"I got cut for a special teams player at the time. They decided to lean towards the guy who was a better special teams player than a football player because they thought they could teach somebody how to play football. But I was like teach me how to play special teams and I can do it -- I never played special teams."
During training camps later in Hughes' career, he treated veteran players differently from rookies.
"If somebody like Dan Clark told me: 'Hey bro, chill out when you come at me.' I'll tone it down when I'm coming at Dan Clark. I'll throw a move and try to beat him. if he grabs me, I'll shut it down," Hughes said.
"If it was a rookie or somebody like Logan Ferland, who was more of a younger guy when I played him, I'm going straight at him and he got to try his best."
Hughes is a fan of the new Stampede Bowl and thinks it is a good idea. The Stampeders play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday, July 3. At halftime, frontman Bret Michaels from the band Poison will perform.
"That is the best thing I've seen happen to Calgary in all of my 10 years of being there, besides us winning the Grey Cup twice," Hughes said.
"Although they had bad luck these past couple of seasons, there's been some real low points as far as the team goes, this gives a boost. You want to see that same thing carry on for the rest of the season. I think he took a page out of the B.C. Lions book where they're making all their games super exciting. It's engaging for the young crowd."
