When 49ers running back Roger Craig had 1,050 rushing yards and 1,016 receiving yards in 1985, he was doing something previously unthinkable in the NFL.
Not only had no player ever gained 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving in a season, no player had ever had even 800 yards both rushing and receiving in a season. But Craig said that after the 1984 season, in which Craig gained 649 rushing yards and 675 receiving yards, coach Bill Walsh approached him and told him the 49ers would need him even more on offense in 1985. Walsh told Craig the 49ers were going to need 1,000 yards from him.
“I was fired up. I knew I couldn’t let him down,” Craig said, via TheAthletic.com. “But then I started to wonder if he meant he needed 1,000 yards rushing or receiving. I wanted to cover my ass, so I figured I better shoot for both.”
Craig, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame today, set the ultimate standard for all-purpose backs with that 1,000/1,000 season. Since then, even as NFL offenses have exploded, only two other players have done it: Marshall Faulk, who had 1,381 yards rushing and 1,048 yards receiving for the 1999 Rams, and Christian McCaffrey, who had 1,387 yards rushing and 1,005 yards receiving for the 2019 Panthers.
Craig retired after the 1993 season and has had to wait a long time for his Hall of Fame enshrinement. But he already had a place in football history with his spectacular season in 1985.
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