Michael Bennett made it. L.J. Shelton and Kynan Forney did not.

Along with the rest of the NFL, the Chargers cut down their roster to the 53-player regular season limit with a couple of surprises, but no stunners.

Bennett, a nine-year veteran running back, earned a spot on the team with impressive play throughout the preseason despite the fact that the Chargers already have LaDainian Tomlinson, Darren Sproles and fourth-round rookie Gartrell Johnson established in the rotation.

Related: Roster cuts on Norv Turner’s mind as Chargers preseason ends

“Each week it will be a challenge to get that many backs up,” coach Norv Turner said of including Bennett in the regular running rotation. “He’s an experienced guy… He’s a guy that can give us a change of pace runner when the situation presents itself.”

The cuts of Shelton, an offensive tackle and Forney, a guard who has been sidelined with a neck injury, shows that the Chargers have enough faith in the abilities and health of a group of young offensive lineman to protect Philip Rivers and set up the running game.

They will rely on rookie Louis Vasquez as their starting guard in place of Forney, and young players Brandyn Dombrowski as a backup left tackle and Scott Mruczkowski as a backup center and guard.

“Kynan, when he’s been able to play, he’s done well,” Turner said of Forney. “It comes down to, as I said: You’re competing against guys in some other spots. There’s some young players and some guys we felt needed to be here, and that was an area we could make a move.”

Vasquez saw his first action with a start against Arizona in Forney’s spot in week two of the preseason after suffering a foot injury of his own.

The Chargers will resume practice on Monday in preparation for the season opener against Oakland.

In addition to placing defensive end Ryon Bingham on injured reserve, the complete cut list includes:

LB Eric Bakhtaiari
WR Gary Banks
LB Darry Beckwith
CB Semeon Castille
T Corey Clark
DE Andre Coleman
TE Charles Davis
G Ray Feinga
G Kynan Forney
DE Keith Grennan
LB James Holt
DT Rashaad Jackson
FB Billy Latsko
WR Charly Martin
C Ryan McDonald
RB Kestahn Moore
DT Ian Scott
T L.J. Shelton
CB Antonio Smith
P Truman Spencer
TE Kory Sperry

Lee Hacksaw Hamilton contributed to this report.
Jason Owens is the SDNN sports editor. email: jason.owens(at)sdnn.com

Tags: chargers cuts, Kynan Forney, L.J. Shelton, Michael Bennett, SDNN

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 4:32 pm and is filed under America's Finest Sports Blog, Chargers, Football, Sports . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.