A true pioneer finally receives his overdue Hall of Fame honor. Discover how Roger Craig redefined the running back position and shaped NFL history.
It took far too long, but it finally happened.
For years, whenever the conversation turned to the most glaring omissions from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, one name consistently topped the list. That name was San Francisco 49ers legend Roger Craig. A pioneer. A dynasty cornerstone. A player whose impact on the game extended well beyond box scores.
Now, that wait is finally over.
According to a report from NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai, citing multiple sources, Craig was set to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026. That became official on Thursday, Feb. 5.
After decades of being overlooked, the gold jacket is finally his.
A legacy that reshaped the position
Craig wasn’t just a great running back, he changed what the position could be.
During the 49ers’ dynasty run in the 1980s, Craig was a central figure in three Super Bowl championships, thriving in Bill Walsh’s revolutionary West Coast offense. While the scheme emphasized timing and precision through the air, Craig became the ultimate mismatch weapon, forcing defenses to rethink how they matched up against running backs.
In 1985, Craig became the first player in NFL history to record 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season (something that felt almost unimaginable at the time). Today, fans celebrate do-it-all backs like Christian McCaffrey, but Craig laid the blueprint decades earlier.
That season, Craig led the entire NFL with 92 receptions which was an unheard of number for a running back in that era. Before Craig, backs who caught passes were often labeled situational or gimmicky. He erased that stigma entirely.
Numbers that tell only part of the story
Across his eight seasons with San Francisco, Craig compiled 7,064 rushing yards, 4,442 receiving yards, and 66 total touchdowns. Those numbers alone would place him among the franchise’s all-time greats.
But Craig’s true value went beyond statistics. He was the connective tissue between Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and the offensive philosophy that defined a generation of football. His versatility allowed the 49ers to dictate matchups rather than react to them which is a concept that remains foundational in modern offenses.
A long-overdue honor
For a player whose impact was as profound as Craig’s, the delay always felt like a failure of perspective because judging greatness through a modern lens without acknowledging who helped create it feels like missing the point entirely.
With his induction into the Class of 2026, that oversight has finally been corrected.
Better late than never but this one should have happened a long time ago.