Article: Garner stands tall when carrying ball.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

ALAMEDA_Running back Charlie Garner joined the NFL in 1994 as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. With that came automatic inclusion into another group.

Garner, 5-foot-9 and 196 pounds, entered the fraternity of players deemed too small and too weak to play in the NFL, where height and size often are deemed more important than talent.

More than six years later, Garner is a member of the 49ers and a poster boy for undersized players who flourish once given the opportunity.

"We're in the same boat," Raiders linebacker William Thomas said. "We were too small to do this. They said the same thing about me: I'm too small. Yet, here we are."

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