Bucs Make First Cuts
August 24th, 2025
Gone.
The cuts have begun.
One of the names of the Bucs’ first releases as the team needs to shave its roster down to 53 by Tuesday is not surprising.
The other is a bit surprising.
Greg Auman of FOX Sports has a list of four players. Two of those Bucs fans have heard of before, Shilo Sanders and Jose Ramirez.
Is the release of Sanders a surprise? He was very much a bubble player and in his last chance to impress Bucs types last night, he got run in the first half for throwing a punch.
Not good. Bucs coach Todd Bowles was not very pleased with that stunt. And for a guy who needed to prove he belonged, he did the opposite. Joe liked Sanders and was hoping for him but he sealed his own fate when he threw a punch five feet in front of a zebra.
The other player that mildly surprised Joe is also a name Bucs fans will recognize. Outside linebacker Jose Ramirez.
Ramirez, from Polk County, was drafted in the sixth round in 2023 and had a reputation as a quarterback mauler. He had 20.5 sacks in three seasons at Eastern Michigan.
Ramirez was considered such a good pass rusher in the MAC and such a steal that NFL Network’s stat queen Cynthia Frelund predicted Ramirez would be the best player selected on Day 3 of the 2023 draft.
But, as Bowles is wont to do, he took an edge rusher and tried to make him a cover corner. Even Bowles admitted this summer he knew Ramirez could rush the passer. Yet, this never happened when people outside of Bucs employees watched.
Bucs types raved about Markees Watts and Ramirez giving Tristan Wirfs fits in closed practices where only Bucs employees are able to watch. Yet these same guys who drove perhaps the best left tackle in football nuts never could get on a field on a Sunday afternoon.
Yes, weird, Joe knows.