Why Roger Craig Should Get the Nod for the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Last month, the NFL released the semifinalist list of candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In early January, they'll announce the narrowed list to 15, which will go to a mail-in ballot. It is Roger Craig's first appearance on the semifinalist list and it's about time.

If he were a shoe-in, then there would be no debate and no need to put together a compelling argument. Although Roger's lifetime stats don't make him a HOF lock, his reputation as a game changer as well Super Bowl success liken him to baseball HOFer Kirby Puckett (RIP).

Realistically, there are between two and three spots for Craig to vie for. Rob Woodson and Bruce Smith will most likely get the nod. Shannon Sharpe was a dominate tight end with many Pro Bowl appearances. Along with Sharpe, the other key offensive challenges for those precious HOF votes are Chris Carter, Terrell Davis, and Andre Reed.

Craigs' career stats are 8,189 rushing yards, 4,911 receiving yards, 13,100 total yards, 73 TDs, and three Super Bowl rings.

Let's compare Roger's stats with other Hall of Famers, then with the candidates.

Total Rushing Yards: 8,189

Almost half of Walter Payton’s career yards, but more than HOFers Larry Csonka, Gayle Sayers, Lenny Moore and Ollie Matson.

Total Receiving Yards: 4,911

Less yards than Marcus Allen (Roger’s 4911 was over 11 seasons and Allen’s 5411 was over 16 seasons), but more than HOFers Thurman Thomas, Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Tony Dorsett, Walter Payton, John Riggins, and Franco Harris. Roger’s 4911 receiving yards are just 551 yards less than HOF WR Lynn Swann’s career total.

Total Yards: 13,100

Only 278 total yards less than O.J. Simpson but more than HOFers Earl Campbell, Larry Csonka, Gayle Sayers, and Lenny Moore.

13,100 total yards are also more total yards than HOF wide receivers: Steve Largent (played 14 years vs. Roger’s 11), Paul Warfield, Lynn Swann (more than double), John Stallworth and Michael Irvin.

Touchdowns: 73

Only two less than O.J. Simpson but more than HOFers Ollie Matson, Gayle Sayers, Larry Csonka.

Here's a few comparisons to this year's offensive HOF candidates

Chris Carter – he has 840 total yards more than Craig, played five seasons more and didn’t win any Super Bowls

Terrell Davis – Craig had 4200+ yards more, while he played seven seasons, and he has a couple Super Bowls wins.

Andre Reed – has only 610 more total yards than Craig, played five seasons more and has no Super Bowls

Shannon Sharpe – Craig had 3,000+ more yards than him, he played one more season than Craig and he has a couple Super Bowls wins.

Perhaps from a career-statistics perspective, granting Roger Craig entry into the HOF creates some new precedent, which could result in the expectation of other inductees that might not deserve.

Fear not—another candidate would have to be recognized as among the era’s most prolific running backs, with a level of versatility unseen before (he was a Pro Bowler as both a fullback and a halfback), help his team win three Super Bowl championships (and score a lot of points in those games—setting a record for most points scored in a Super Bowl), get selected to the Pro Bowl multiple years, and completely innovate his position—WAIT, wouldn’t that player be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame?

OK, still on the fence?

Here are two very important points to make:

1. Roger was asked to take on a role that no other running back was asked to do, in order to help make the Walshian Offence/“West Coast Offense” successful – an entirely new level of selflessness not seen in a star running back. No one can say that he didn’t do it exceptionally well and as a direct result, his team is often referred to as one of the best teams of all time and “the best backfield of the era."
2. The threat of a running, blocking, faking, catching RB provided for significantly more pass coverage and one could argue an extension of Joe Montana’s career and a lot of help for the game’s best WR, Jerry Rice.

Joe Montana said: "Roger was so good at carrying out play-action fakes that sometimes he had three or four guys chasing him. He was a threat with and without the ball."

There wouldn’t be a “West Coast offense” without Roger Craig, and the 49ers wouldn’t have been as prolific a team either.

Additional On and Off-the-field Information

• First ever to do 1,000/1,000 and also led the league in receptions one year with over 90. Over 20 years later, only one player has matched that feat—Marshall Faulk (and there is a big difference in doing it when your home field is a dome compared to wet and soggy Candlestick Park.)

• Three Super Bowl rings and played in a record 11 consecutive playoff games.
  1984 Super Bowl: 135 total yards, 3 TDs (first time it had ever been done): 58 rushing yards 1 TD, 7 catches for 77 yards and 2 TDs
  1988 Super Bowl: 175 total yards: 74 rushing yards, 8 catches for 101 yards
  1989 Super Bowl: 103 total yards, 1 TD: 69 rushing yards, 1 TD and 5 catches for 34 yards

• Selected to the Pro-Bowl five times, four All-Pro Honors (85, 87, 88, 89). Only player to be elected to the Pro Bowl at both full and halfback (1993 Inside the Helmet reported).

• 1988 NFL MVP, AP Offensive Player of the Year/MVP, 1990 Team of the Decade Honors

• Led all running backs in receptions for six straight years: 1984-1989

• Jerry Rice credits him with helping to get him in the top shape of his life with Hill Running. Excerpt from an April 2006 article about 49er running back Frank Gore’s conditioning “49ers running back Roger Craig became a fan of steep hill and distance running also introducing Jerry Rice to “The Hill,” located over in Edgewood Park in San Carlos, California.”

• A standout person in the community
  • Helped raise over $900,000 for the United Way
  • Helped raise over a million dollars for Special Olympics
  • Last year he was an ambassador for the city of San Jose helping to bring it the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon.  Revenue to the city in excess of $22m.

• As of today, Roger Craig remains the only running back to lead the NFL in receptions for a single season, and the only one ever to record over 100 receiving yards in a Super Bowl.

• Eric Dickerson said, “I believe that Roger is a Hall-of-Famer. Roger was the first to do the double 1,000, his style of running over defensive opponents was unmatched and he was an irreplaceable part of San Francisco’s offence in the 1908’s.”

One couldn't end a case for Roger Craig without quoting the great coaching mastermind Bill Walsh, who said, “Roger Craig is one of the great players of our era. He was the best all around running back of his time. A great receiver, one of the finest open field runners and power runners we have seen in recent years, a fine blocker and a tremendous competitor.

"He’s takes his team to the world championship a number of times and I don’t know if there’s ever been a more talented running back, or utility running back, that’s ever played the game.”