Q&A: Charles Grant reflects on rookie season with Raiders

The Raiders took William & Mary offensive lineman Charles Grant in the third round of the 2025 NFL draft. He’s athletic and talented, but coming from a small school, he was also raw.

He and the Raiders understood his rookie season would be a developmental year, which has been the case, as he has played only six snaps all season.

But five came last Sunday against the Eagles, a sign that Grant might be in line for more playing time the final three games.

Grant sat down with the Review-Journal to discuss his development, his background and his interests outside of football.

RJ: Do you know who William & Mary are? And what’s the story behind them as the name of a university?

Grant: For sure. It’s the second-oldest (royal) charter school in America, named after King William and Queen Mary of England.

RJ: Is there a class at William & Mary devoted to learning about them?

Grant: No, you just kind of figure it out as you’re there. I probably found out for the first time during my official visit. So you kind of just learn. Also, in one of the dining halls, there’s a big picture of William and Mary. And you’re like, dang, who’s that? And someone will be like, that’s King William and Queen Mary.

RJ: How did you end up going there?

Grant: I started playing football my junior year in high school, so I was fairly late to it. I was honestly thinking, I have a twin brother, so let me go ahead and try to help my parents out financially, pay for my college and take a load off them. William & Mary was my first D-1 offer, so that’s how I ended up there. And being from Portsmouth, I knew of the school and knew it was a terrific academic institution.

RJ: What are some of your interests away from football?

Grant: I’m a big anime guy. I’ve been watching it for as long as I can remember, probably since elementary school. There’s a lot of football right now, of course, but pre-high school and in high school, I was into robotics, and I was doing ROTC.

RJ: Your favorite anime character?

Grant: My top three are Naruto, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

RJ: When did playing in the NFL start becoming a real goal?

Grant: I’d say my sophomore year on the field, which would have been my junior year in the class. That was my first true season starting. I had gotten sophomore All-American, my first time going through. And some people were hitting me up, like some agents. So that was when a seed was planted, like maybe I could do this NFL stuff.

RJ: What would you be doing if football wasn’t in the picture?

Grant: I didn’t graduate with a computer science degree, but I did go to school for computer science at first. So I’d probably be doing some computer science stuff.

RJ: What has been the biggest NFL eye-opener?

Grant: Coming from an FCS school, I’d say that at the end of the day, it’s still just football. Guys are really good in this league. Really, really good. But if you break it down to the details, it’s still football. And I’ve been playing football for a while now. So I can build myself to physically be what I need to be. But if you can play football, you can play football, and you kind of see that. You go to the scouting combine, you see guys from D-2 and D-3 schools. So you know there’s ballers everywhere. So that’s the biggest eye-opener. You think guys are just from Georgia and Alabama. But they’re from everywhere.

RJ: A lot of people always focus on the technique and the fundamentals, but there’s also a diet. There’s also weightlifting. How has that transition been?

Grant: Coming from college, I was kind of just doing everything on my own. I ate what I wanted to. I wanted to eat healthy because I knew how I wanted to build my body. But the opportunities for me to do that are just more now. I loved my strength coach in college, but you can’t beat an NFL strength program.

RJ: In terms of the actual fundamentals of playing, where have you seen the most growth?

Grant: I’ve been really trying to hammer my pass pro. In college, I was just being athletic, getting out there, trying to put hands on. But now I’ve got to notice the details of, like, how does this D line up? What type of rusher am I going against? What do they like to do in this situation?

RJ: You got in for five plays against the Eagles. How would you assess that experience?

Grant: I was just excited for the opportunity. We had talked about it a little bit during the week, so I just wanted to go out there and show that I can do it. I didn’t go out there and play perfectly, but I thought my intent was good. The effort was good.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.