Steve Young says Roger Craig was “high knees, high spirits” in Hall of Fame pitch

Roger Craig advanced to the final 12 of the Hall of Fame voting for senior candidates. Craig retired from the NFL in 1993. Many believed the former San Francisco 49ers running back would soon end up with a bust in Canton, Ohio, as an inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But it's been 25 years since Craig became eligible for the Hall of Fame, and he still has not received that honor. Craig, of course, was the first player in NFL history to have 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in one season. Since he did that in 1985, only two others, Marshall Faulk and Christian McCaffrey, have been able to match the feat.

Many of Craig's fans have continued to make the case for his enshrinement. Last year, I wrote an article with statements from Bay Area media members Larry Krueger and Matt Maiocco, along with some of Craig's former teammates, in which we made a compelling case for Craig to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The article centered around four points:

1. Why isn't Craig already in the Hall of Fame?
2. The numbers (statistics)
3. The media (Krueger and Maiocco)
4. The players (statements from former teammates like Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Eddie DeBartolo, coach George Seifert, and others).

Craig wasn't elected last year, so this year, we at 49ers Webzone, have decided to follow up last year's story with a podcast series, built around the article from a year ago, entitled, "The Hall of Fame Case for Roger Craig."

As part of the series, I interviewed Young, the Hall of Famer QB, and former teammate of Craig.

In the interview, Young said, "Roger was high knees and high spirits," Young said. "The knees are, I think, our metaphor for how he lived his life. And if you see Roger today, same thing. Like, 'Hey, what are you doing? What's happening?' And that's a natural, God-given talent, gift of spirit that Roger has and always will have. And I think that great teams need all kinds of people, and Roger played a unique role."

The stories about Craig being a high-spirit kind of person are legendary. There are tales of Craig being a person who, when you meet him, doesn't simply sign an autograph, but actually takes the time to ask about you. He seems to genuinely care about people, even people he's just met.

Unfortunately, being a champion of a person doesn't get you into the Hall of Fame. But Craig is more than just a great person. He was a great player, worthy of the honor of having his place in Canton. Young added, "The thing that I think, historically—I think the thing that creates the most momentum for Roger to be voted in by those 39 is to make the case [of] where football has gone today. Roger was the back that started it all. The idea that in the West Coast offense, you needed someone who could line up in all the positions, who could run it from the I, who could catch it on the wide, could line up in the slot, and all the things.

"And you look at the death of the I-back, the death of the split backs, the guys that couldn't do that, can't play football today. And so you don't want to be on the ash heap of players, positions, and styles that are dead. They're just gone. And the I-back is dead. So I would not want to be like any back today that can't—they're all leaving the game. They're all going away quickly. In the last four or five years, there's only a couple of I-backs left, and I don't think they're going to be catching a job unless they can't transition to a Roger Craig type of game."

Young is right. The way that NFL running backs are being used today, and the kind of backs, like McCaffrey, that we are seeing succeed the most, are players who emulate the style that Roger Craig created. Granted, many of these modern-day running backs are not as physical as Craig.

According to Young, "When you're voting for the Hall of Fame, and you have Hall of Fame credentials, and you were the founding member of what became the profile of exactly what a running back needs to be today, I think there's a lot of energy in that. It's like, pay that off, pay that uniqueness that you brought to the game that was looked at as an anomaly and maybe a reason not to be voted in, back 20 years ago, but today, an absolute reason to be voted in."

Well said. It's time for the Hall of Fame voters to, as Young said, "pay that off," and elect Roger Craig to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He helped change a franchise. And he changed the game.

The final vote, which will determine if Craig will be a 2024 inductee, takes place on August 22.

To hear more from Young and others, be sure to check back for "The Hall of Fame Case for Roger Craig." The podcast series will air on YouTube, or wherever you listen, next Tuesday, August 8th. Be sure to subscribe to the 49ers Camelot Show to be notified of its release.

• Marc Adams
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