Former 49ers running back Roger Craig did not make the list of 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his final year of eligibility as a modern-era candidate.

In fact, Craig was a finalist just once (2010), and he never again gained enough votes to crack the top 15.

"I thought I'd go in a long time ago," Craig said on The 49ers Insider Podcast. "It's kind of funny all these other guys went in before me when I kind of changed the game for the millennials today.

“For me, being the first to do the thousand-thousand and being an all-purpose kind of running back, I see a lot of those guys today, and I'm like, 'Wow, man, that's what I used to do.'"

In 1985, Craig became the first player in NFL history to enter the 1,000-1,000 club. He rushed for 1,050 yards and caught 92 passes for 1,016 yards in the season after he became the first player to score three touchdowns in a Super Bowl.

Fourteen years later, Marshall Faulk became the only other person to accomplish the feat, rushing for 1,381 yards and catching 87 passes for 1,048 yards for the St. Louis Rams. He was inducted as a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Craig played on three Super Bowl-winning teams with the 49ers, and his teams made the playoffs in each of his 11 NFL seasons. He finished his career with 8,198 yards rushing and 4,911 yards receiving.

But, now, if he makes the Hall of Fame, he will have to be nominated as a seniors candidate. Craig noted he is in the 49ers Hall of Fame, Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and he has been enshrined in his home state of Iowa.

"It's not for me to judge," Craig said. "If people want to hold me out, that's OK. I'm doing other things to make the world a better place. I have so many different platforms and I'm having fun. I'm not going to sit around and worry about, 'Aw, I'm not in the Hall of Fame, yet.'

"By me justifying I'm not in the NFL Hall of Fame, it's so political. I don't get into that anymore. I quit worrying about it really. I don't let it drain me."

On the podcast, Craig also talked about the current 49ers and how he would like to see Carlos Hyde re-sign with the 49ers and improve in an area in which he excelled.

"I think Carlos Hyde is an ideal running back for the team," Craig said. "He can make it happen. He just needs to catch the ball more because I know they're going to be throwing the ball a lot. Jimmy (Garoppolo) is going to be throwing the ball a lot, so you've got to be more of a receiver now.

"You got to be able to catch the ball and run routes and do the things that I kind of did in the ‘80s."