All season long, Mike Hughes has been the cornerback opponents of the Atlanta Falcons have picked on, as this trend has even dated back to last season. He's been a liability for that long, yet the Falcons continue to feel comfortable trotting him out there in the starting lineup. It is absolutely infuriating.
Hughes is about as impactful in coverage as a traffic cone, as it feels like every time he's targeted you just know the Falcons are about to give up a big play. It was rough when he had to face Matthew Golden and Chris Olave the last two weeks, but it got even worse in Week 5 vs. the Baltimore Ravens.
In the 30-23 overtime loss, things got worse than ever before. According to Nick Penticoff, the veteran cornerback was targeted nine times on the evening, where he surrendered six receptions for 70 yards, including a play on the final drive of regulation where Rashod Bateman shattered his ankles.
I'll give him some credit for some nice tackles, including the one where he stopped Derrick Henry on the goal line, but it doesn't matter much when he's essentially a free 20+ yards for the opposing offense through the air. At this point, the Falcons have no choice but to send Hughes to the bench.
The Atlanta Falcons need to move Mike Hughes to the bench already
The only cornerbacks in football who have allowed more receiving yards than Hughes this season are Jarrian Jones and DJ Reed, so there is no reason the 29-year-old should be an every-down outside cornerback when he's getting out-manned and out-played by opposing receivers every single week.
The guy doesn't even have a single pass-breakup on the season--and that's on over 200 coverage snaps. It would make more sense for the Dirty Birds to sideline him in a role better catered to his strengths since he's still a good tackler and a run defender--he just can't cover to save his life.
The most frustrating part is that even with A.J Terrell out, the Falcons don't have to keep starting him anymore. C.J. Henderson has out-played him by a significant margin, and even second-round rookie Avieon Terrell would be a better starter on the outside, since he's been locking WRs down thus far.
The plan should be to start Henderson and Terrell until A.J. returns from IR, and from there, it should be the Terrell brothers on the outside with Henderson as the third man in the rotation while Sydney Brown and Billy Bowman Jr. platoon out of the nickel with Hughes mixing as a depth CB when needed.
Avieon has been great. Henderson has been great. The former first-round pick has been the biggest liability in this secondary. And take PFF for what you will, but even they know it. So even though he's 13th in run defense grade, his 46.2 coverage grade is 89th out of 102 qualified cornerbacks. Yikes.
It's infurating to know that Terry Fontenot signed Hughes to a three-year extension before last season, because all he's done is regress since getting paid. Thankfully, there is an out in his deal after the season that'll allow the Falcons to finally cut ties with him, which cannot come soon enough.
Mike Hughes has been an issue for the Atlanta Falcons for a while, and while he's a solid depth cornerback, his issues in coverage confirm he has no business starting anymore.
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