Return of a falcon9 stage fails

[Jim Horn]

I suspect that reentry from near space at high speed would damage the engines which aren't protected by a heat shield, so a significant burn is needed anyway. Landing at a given spot under a parachute is unlikely with any significant surface winds. The structure is also designed for compressive loads while a parachute would apply large tensile loads. Finally, since the vast majority of the fuel and oxygen are already used, the lower stage is very light compared to at liftoff, minimizing the amount of fuel needed to propel it at high accelerations to bring it back. All told, the weight difference may be less than you'd expect with the tradeoff being high control of the return.