>SpaceX always intended reuse but originally they were going to recover boosters with parachutes

I know that engineers have obviously done that math on this, but I still find it incredibly counterintuitive that they are not at least shaving off some velocity with any chutes or other aerodynamic surfaces (except of course there are the grid fins, but afaik those are primarily for steering the ballistic trajectory in the upper atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, and don't significantly alter the terminal velocity relevant to how much fuel you need for a hover burn).