There weren’t a lot of good takeaways from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ 20-7 preseason loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 17.
There was one great one, though. That was second-year outside linebacker Jose Ramirez and the Buccaneers’ pass rush, with Ramirez pulling off a hat trick with 3.0 sacks and Tampa Bay putting up 5.0 sacks as a team.
Ramirez’s sack attack came at an especially precarious time for the Buccaneers’ edge rushers, with free-agent outside linebacker Randy Gregory set to be released after pulling an offseason no-show and last year’s sack leader, YaYa Diaby, out of action since a high ankle sprain on Aug. 1
“I had a couple rushes in practice where I was trying to do too much and I had talked with Yaya (Diaby) and other guys and they said, ‘Just get off the ball,’ ” Ramirez told Brianna Dix at Buccaneers.com “My first thing is always just getting off the ball and whatever the tackle gives me, I take. So, if he gives me an inside or whatever it is, I do not even remember what I did, it is just the game inside of the game.”
Ramirez Following Footsteps of Fellow EMU Star
Ramirez didn’t take a straight line to get to the NFL. He redshirted at Arizona in 2017 then spent one year at a junior college before transferring to Eastern Michigan, where he was a three-time All-MAC selection and earned MAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2022.
At EMU, Ramirez set the career record with 20.5 sacks and set the single-season record with 12.0 sacks — breaking the record of former EMU star and Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, a two-time NFL All-Pro who signed a 4-year, $94 million contract extension in March 2022.
Crosby, who played for EMU from 2015 to 2018, was drafted by the Raiders in the 4th round (No. 106 overall) in 2019 — EMU renamed the field at its home football stadium Crosby Field after a $1 million donation from Crosby in 2024.
Ramirez was drafted in the 6th round (No. 196 overall) in 2023 but spent all of his rookie season on the practice squad.
Crosby has been a mentor to Ramirez since his time at EMU, even taking time to personally meet with him at the 2023 Shrine Bowl.
“Maxx is probably one of my favorite players to watch just because he’s so relentless,” Ramirez told Raiders.com in March 2023. “He can beat you this way, that way. When you watch Maxx, you see a great football player. Meeting him in person, you could feel that energy. One thing he told us was, ‘Don’t let anybody decide who you are.’ ”
Can Ramirez Crack Buccaneers’ 53-Man Roster?
Ramirez seems to have made his case to crack the Buccaneers’ 53-man roster or at least be on another 53-man roster should he be waived — something Tampa Bay might be hesitant to do now.
Currently, he’s sitting behind Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and rookie Chris Braswell on the depth chart. Tryon-Shoyinka has notoriously underperformed since he was drafted in the 1st round in the 2021 draft and missed the preseason game against the Jaguars with a shoulder injury.
Diaby’s health is also a concern that could keep Ramirez in the fold. While the Buccaneers’ didn’t have a standout pass rusher in 2023, they were still one of the best teams at sacking the quarterback last season, with their 48 sacks putting them at No. 7 out of 32 NFL teams.
