DeLawrence Grant

DeLawrence Grant, Jr. (born November 18, 1979 in Compton, California) is a former linebacker in the NFL.

College career
DeLawrence Grant was a defensive end for Oregon State University.

Pro career
Grant was selected by the Raiders in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft and has played five years for them. Grant began his career as a defensive end before being converted to linebacker.

He played sparingly as a rookie in 2001, before starting at left end for most of the Raiders' Super Bowl season in 2002. He was back on the bench in 2003, before being moved to the weakside linebacker spot in 2004. He had a strange year that season, starting the first nine games before being benched and not even getting on the field for the final seven.

That offseason, he was released by the Raiders for salary cap reasons, but was later re-signed. Due to an injury, he played only half the season in 2005, missing most of the middle portion.

One of the stranger aspects of Grant's star-crossed Raiders career is his continual switch in uniform number. He started out as No. 95, then switched to No. 99 when a more experienced player, Sam Adams, was signed and issued the jersey. He then switched to No. 59 (the reverse of his prior No. 95) after moving to linebacker, numbers in the 50s being thought of as linebackers' numbers.