Cutting the roster down to 53 players was extremely tough for the LA Chargers. There were a lot of talented players that were on the roster bubble and the Bolts had to make some hard decisions to let certain players go.
It is going to be even tougher to determine who is going to be active on any particular game day. Not every member of the 53-man roster will dress, as the Chargers are only allowed to dress 48 players for each game. Naturally, five players are going to be left out.
Most of the time these inactive slots are reserved for injured players who are not on the IR. But since it is the beginning of the season, the Chargers do not have many of those players. Instead, the Chargers are going to have to make several players on the roster a healthy inactive (with one player likely missing the game due to an injury).
The fifth inactive player is really hard to pinpoint for the Bolts. However, there are four players who will definitely be inactive, at least in Week 1.
4 Chargers who will definitely be inactive in Week 1 against the Dolphins:
1. Daiyan Henley, LB
The rookie linebacker has not practiced for the team since the San Francisco 49ers preseason game and it does not look like he is going to play on Sunday. Henley was the only player that did not participate in practice on Wednesday and him getting healthy enough to play on Sunday seems far fetched.
The Chargers have absolutely no reason to rush Henley back, especially considering it is only the first game of the year and he isn't even a starting linebacker anyway. The Bolts are going to be cautious with his recovery and that means he will most likely be out of action on Sunday.
Los Angeles foreshadowed this reality when the team claimed linebacker Tanner Muse off of waivers. That is exactly the kind of move a team makes if it is expecting one of the linebackers to not suit up in Week 1.