CBS Sports has identified San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig as one of the top former Nebraska players whose uniform number should be retired by his National Football League team. The outlet selected one standout from each team for this recognition.
Craig, who wore No. 33 during his time with the 49ers, contributed significantly to the team’s Super Bowl victories in 1985, 1989, and 1990. While Hall of Famer Joe Montana led a notable passing offense, Craig’s rushing efforts played an important role in those championship seasons.
San Francisco has already retired twelve numbers for players such as Steve Young (No. 8), John Brodie (No. 12), Joe Montana (No. 16), Hall of Famer Joe Perry (No. 34), Jimmy Johnson (No. 37), Hugh McElhenny (No. 39), Ronnie Lott (No. 42), Charlie Krueger (No. 70), Leo Nomellini (No. 73), Bob St. Clair (No. 79), Jerry Rice (No. 80), and Dwight Clark (No. 87).
Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports addressed why Craig was highlighted: “Patrick Willis was also deserving, but Craig was the pick given his impact on the 49ers’ dynasty during the 1980s. One of the best players currently not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Craig won Offensive Player of the Year the season the 49ers won their third of four Super Bowls during the decade (…) Three years earlier, the versatile Craig scored a Super Bowl single-game record three touchdowns in San Francisco’s blowout win over Miami.” This quotation was attributed to Bryan DeArdo.
Craig spent eight years with San Francisco and made history as the first National Football League player to achieve both over one thousand rushing yards and one thousand receiving yards in a single season (1985). Despite these accomplishments and being inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in its Class of nineteen eighty-nine, he has not yet been enshrined as a Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee nor had his uniform number retired by San Francisco.
At Nebraska, between nineteen seventy-nine and nineteen eighty-two, Craig rushed for two thousand four hundred forty-six yards on four hundred seven carries and scored twenty-six rushing touchdowns.
CBS Sports’ analysis listed similar standouts from other teams who have also not had their numbers retired—including Hall of Famers or local legends like Larry Fitzgerald for Arizona or Stanley Morgan for New England—but noted that some have different ties compared to Craig’s link between collegiate success at Nebraska and championship achievements with San Francisco.
