Charleston Hughes is a Calgary Stampeders legend, but he does not believe the Stamps can climb out of the West Division basement in 2025.
"I don't see them recovering this year. The gamble on bringing a whole new staff in and a whole new bunch of players, it's a desperation move. You gotta do what you have to do to win -- I hope I'm wrong. I don't see a big enough impact," Hughes said to the SportsCage.
After a last place 5-12-1 season in 2024, Calgary made changes to the team's coaching staff and did not retain special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Mark Kilam, defensive coordinator Brent Monson and defensive line coach Juwan Simpson. Kilam is the head coach for the Edmonton Elks while Monson is with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as their defensive coordinator.
3DowNation published a list of the top 30 CFL free agents this offseason, the Stampeders managed to sign four, their rivals in Edmonton inked seven out of the top 15.
The team that Hughes believes will finish fourth in the West Division this year will be the B.C. Lions because he does not know if their quarterback, Canadian Nathan Rourke can have a bounce-back year.
"He's still gonna struggle. He didn't look too good when he came back from the NFL. It was a big change for him, going down to the NFL and I think he played amazing," Hughes said.
"He's one heck of an athlete and he's one heck of a quarterback when it comes down to it, but I don't see him coming back and having the same pop, the same impact that he had on the team when he first came to the league. Unless you do a lot of work this off-season to get back in that mind frame of CFL football, then I don't really see much happening there either."
After a stint in the NFL from 2023 part way through training camp in August 2024, Rourke returned to the CFL with the Lions. He played nine games for B.C and threw for 1,781 yards with four touchdowns and nine interceptions. Rourke had a decrease in production compared to his 2022 season when he threw for 3,349 yards with 25 touchdowns versus 10 interceptions and also won the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian award.
Due to Hughes' familiarity with the Elks, bench boss, he can envision Edmonton finishing third in the West.
"I know the type of coach Mark Kilam is and I know what he's going to demand from his team," Hughes explained. "He likes to get the best out of his guys. I've seen him develop players. I think guys are going to go there and they're going to run through brick walls for him. That's a dangerous, dangerous thing right there."
For the final two teams in the West, Hughes knows it's a toss-up, but he picked Winnipeg to come second and the Riders to finish first.
"The reason why is because it's redemption. Saskatchewan got in a big problem when they didn't have depth at the quarterback position," Hughes said. "Now they have depth at the quarterback position in case injuries happen. That puts them over the top to reestablish that team."
The Riders signed Tommy Stevens in CFL free agency from the Stampeders and also made a trade with Calgary to acquire Jake Maier. Hughes' prediction for the 2025 Grey Cup match-up: Riders versus the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
