3 major shockers for the Arizona Cardinals 53-man roster in 2023

Between August 29th and August 31st, the Arizona Cardinals gave us a solid idea of who will open the 2023 season on the 53-man roster. While it’s possible they will still make some moves before September 10th, we can at least talk about some notable snubs and shockers until general manager Monti Ossenfort decides if it’s in the team’s best interest to bring in another player or two.

So what moves shocked us more than anything else? We can tell you this much: Colt McCoy’s release isn’t one of them. Nor was the trade for Josh Dobbs, as I even wrote up a piece talking about a potential trade shortly before Arizona cut McCoy. Dobbs’ name wasn’t mentioned, but I stressed that the Cards needed to perhaps shop around for a quarterback following McCoy’s subpar performances.

But what did shock us after the Cardinals cut to what looks like their 53-man roster heading into Week 1? Here are the Big Three.

Biggest shockers for the Arizona Cardinals 53-man roster

1 - Only three running backs?

Perhaps the biggest shocker comes at Lucky #1, with the run-first Arizona Cardinals keeping just three backs. You would have thought they’d roll with a committee approach of three backs while keeping a fourth and perhaps a fifth as insurance. 

Unless they sign someone before September 10th, look for the Redbirds to roll with three when they open the season against the Washington Commanders. However, one reason the Cards may have gone with just three backs could be due to Rondale Moore and Greg Dortch seeing quite a few carries last season. 

Dortch was especially dangerous in that regard, so we won’t be surprised if we see the Cardinals put a change of pace player like him back there more often. With just three backs at the time of this writing, expect some trickery stemming from offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.