Charleston Hughes


Charleston Hughes is a professional Canadian football defensive lineman for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Calgary Stampeders as a street free agent in 2008 and won two Grey Cup championships over his ten-year tenure with the club. He is a five-time CFL All-Star and seven-time division All-Star. He was also named the West Division's Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2013. He played college football for Northwood. Hughes has also been a member of the Philadelphia Eagles and briefly the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Professional career

Calgary Stampeders

Hughes joined the Stamps for the 2008 CFL season. He played in 15 of the 18 regular season games and recorded a career high 66 tackles. The Stampeders won the 96th Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes on November 23, 2008.

Philadelphia Eagles

Following a successful rookie year in the CFL, Hughes joined the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He was released before playing any regular season games.

Calgary Stampeders (II)

He returned to the CFL midway through the 2009 CFL season. Charleston Hughes finished the 2012 season ranked second in sacks with 11, trailing only Keron Williams who had 12. Hughes led the CFL in sacks for the 2013 season with 18, one shy of the franchise record of 19 set by Harold Hallman in 1986. In 2016,for the second time in his career, Hughes finished the season with the most sacks, this time with 16. For his efforts, he was named a CFL All-Star for the third time in his career and was his team's nominee for Most Outstanding Defensive Player award for a third time. Following the 2016 season Hughes and the Stamps agreed to a contract extension, keeping him with the club through the 2018 season. Hughes had another productive season in 2017 accumulating 11 quarterback sacks, earning his fourth CFL All-Star award in the process. At of the end of the 2017 season Hughes' 99 sacks tied him with Will Johnson for the most sacks in Stampeders franchise history.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

On February 2, 2018, Hughes was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in exchange for draft pick positioning. However, he was traded later that day to the Saskatchewan Roughriders for quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. Hughes was charged with impaired driving on October 11, 2018, with a court date set for October 31, 2018. Following the incident the Riders suspended Hughes for the team's critical Week 19 match against the Calgary Stampeders and fined him with the maximum disciplinary fine allowed under the CBA. He finished the season having played in 17 games and contributing 35 tackles and 15 sacks. Hughes had an outstanding season with the Riders in 2019, and was named a CFL Top Performer for the months of July and September.