Roger Craig's election strengthens the HOF cases of several RBs 

He ran for 8,189 yards off 1,991 carries in 165 games for a career average of 4.1 yards per touch to along with 566 receptions for 4,911 yards. He scored 56 rushing touchdowns, 17 receiving touchdowns and was a four-time Pro Bowler and an All-Pro once. 

Roger Craig in the HOF means several other comparable running backs can't be dismissed 

Craig's resume being worthy strengthens the cases for the likes of Frank Gore, who was a finalist this year but just missed the cut on his first ballot, Adrian Peterson, Derrick Henry, Fred Taylor, Marshawn Lynch, Shaun Alexander, Jamal Lewis, Corey Dillon and even Warrick Dunn all have more rushing yards. 

Priest Holmes, with three All-Pro selections, has just slighting fewer yards of 8,172 in only 113 games. 

Of those names, Gore, Peterson, Henry, Lynch and Taylor are the ones most likely to eventually gain a gold jacket. 

These running backs stand out even more now 

Gore has exactly 16,000 yards and 81 rushing touchdowns. Peterson ran for 14,918 yards, owns a historic MVP season with 2,097 yards and was a four-time first-team All-Pro. The still very active Henry has 13,018 rushing yards and counting. Lynch turned "Beast Mode" on all the way to 10,413 yards, and Taylor put up 11,695 of his own with a yards-per-touch average of 4.6. 

But even the others have comparable resumes to Craig. 

This group of running backs have surprisingly better numbers than Roger Craig 

Alexander, the 2005 NFL MVP, rushed for 9,453 yards and 100 touchdowns in only 123 games. Lewis opened up his career as the focal point of the 2000 Ravens Super Bowl-winning team and finished his career with 10,607 yards on the ground and 58 scores. Dillon spent most of his prime on terrible Bengals teams — granted, he did experience team success by claiming a Super Bowl ring from the 2004 Patriots — gashed defenses to 11,241 yards. Dunn took being a dual-threat option to another level with 10,967 rushing yards and 4,339 receiving yards in 12 years. 

It's not to say Craig doesn't deserve recognition as a pioneer of what the position would become since he last played in 1993, but there was a reason why his candidacy was polarizing for so long. It will now be interesting to see how other running backs with similar or better resumes will be treated when up for consideration.