The official Chargers 53-man roster is here as the Bolts made the necessary cutdowns ahead of Tuesday's 1 p.m. PT deadline. There were a lot of tough decisions that the Bolts had to make and ultimately, these are the 53 players that the Chargers are rocking with to start the 2023 season:
the initial 53 📝 pic.twitter.com/RMorI7MhzV
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 29, 2023
In classic Chargers fashion, the team managed to keep the fanbase on its toes and made some pretty shocking moves that were not foreshadowed. Of course, there is still the potential for future moves or the Bolts putting in a waiver claim for other released players, so this might not be the exact 53-man roster that rolls into Week 1.
The most shocking decisions the Chargers made with the 53-man roster:
AJ Finley making the roster over Mark Webb Jr.
This came completely out of left field. AJ Finley is not someone who many writers or pundits had making the Chargers' 53-man roster as he was not really perceived as an impact player in camp. Webb got far more opportunities than Finley, who became a complete afterthought as a roster candidate.
Finley is by far the most surprising player to make the roster and it will be interesting to see what his future holds for the Chargers. The team has included players on the 53-man roster only to waive them after Week 1 in the past (Breiden Fehoko) and that cannot completely be ruled out.
Regardless, it seemed far more likely that the Chargers would keep an extra cornerback (like Tiawan Mullen) if Webb was not going to make the roster. Instead, they end up shocking everyone by not going with Webb, not going with Mullen, and instead going with Finley.