Why bring him back?
The biggest reason for bringing Mike Hughes back would be a positional need at cornerback
The Chiefs had four cornerbacks log more than 500 defensive snaps in 2021: L’Jarius Sneed, Charvarius Ward, Rashad Fenton, and Hughes. Both Ward and Hughes are free agents, leaving two starter-sized holes for Kansas City to fill. With star safety Tyrann Mathieu’s future in the air as well, the Chiefs’ secondary could see a lot of turnover this offseason.
Bringing Hughes back would provide continuity at a financially-responsible cost. Hughes should not expect a huge contract, considering his injury and performance history. However, the Chiefs could be wise to gamble on Hughes with a caveated contract based on his 2021 performance.
This past season was Hughes’ best in his professional career. Hughes played in 17 games and started five, showing he is physically able to play an entire NFL season. Hughes also allowed career lows in completion percentage allowed, missed tackle percentage, and yards per target allowed—all good signs, especially in his first season with a new team.
Hughes may never live up to his draft selection slot, but he may just be a late bloomer and chose Kansas City as the place to start blooming.
Why let him leave?
At the end of the season, is Hughes’ recent improvement a sign of progression or just an outlier? It depends on the optimism, but history says it is simply an outlier.
Hughes’ best year other than 2021 was 2019, a season where he played 14 games. The biggest similarity between those two seasons? Hughes played in double-digit games but rarely started. Hughes started five times in 2021, and three times in 2019. When called upon as a starter, Hughes is serviceable. But, he surrendered multiple touchdowns in Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers and the Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He allowed five touchdowns while in coverage in 2021, a career-high for Hughes.
He allowed three touchdowns in the post-season and had some downright embarrassing moments too.
I am sorry Mike Hughes pic.twitter.com/26C3TYLjOE
— Nick Olson (@NickOlsonNFL) January 24, 2022
There is also an argument that Kansas City needs to make bigger changes in the position. Bringing Hughes back would be settling in some ways. That cap space could be the difference between keeping stars with the team, or is just an overpay for CB3 at best. Fenton and Sneed are two good cornerbacks for Kansas City. Hughes is not pushing either one out of the depth chart, so why pay decent money for a depth cornerback?