What a bummer, Balmer!

his leave of absence started the day after he was drafted

Originally posted by crabman82:
his leave of absence started the day after he was drafted

c'mon he's been the most steady KR on this team.

Originally posted by 9NERNATE:
What's the deal with him being part of the Tarheels investigation? Do you think this has something to do with his leave of absence?

He's pregnant.

i think i saw him deflect a pass at the line of scrimmage once

Originally posted by NinerBuff:
c'mon he's been the most steady KR on this team.

LOL!!!

Aloha means goodbye!

This is Kwame Harris all over again

Originally posted by socal81:
This is Kwame Harris all over again

nah more like reggie mcgrew

Originally posted by global_nomad:

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:
bust anyway. GTFO

everyone thought Mario Williams was a bust his first 1.5 years too. It takes a while for that position to develop.

Did you just compare Mario Williams with Kentwan Balmer????? Pretty sure that is kinda of an apples and oranges thing. 4-3 DE and 3-4 DE are different deals all together. Even if they did play in the same type of D, Balmer will never be on Williams' level.

Originally posted by WildBill:
Aloha means goodbye!

A-LOL-ha means I'm laughing at you while you walk away!

Personal s--t huh....imma hold judgement till I know the whole story.

People are waaaay too harsh on Balmer and the Niners. I really didn't know much about Balmer when he was drafted, so I visited nearly 30 draft web sites to see what they had to say. He was ranked in mocks as high as number 11 and no lower than mid 40's by any site I looked at. Concensus seemed to be late 20's to early 30's, which is right about where he was drafted.

He definitely has the physical talent, but evidently the light just hasn't quite gone on yet. But it still may. It also may not!

But even if it doesn't, look back at the 6 years of drafts since the end of the TD/DE era: we have had 8 1st round picks. 7 are starters. 2 have made Pro Bowls (VD & Willis). A 3rd (Crabtree) will probably join them based on 11 games his rookie year without a pre-season. And the 2 rookies are looking very promising. The starter hit-rate for the 1st round is around 60%. This team's track record has been incredible!

Originally posted by 5280High:

Originally posted by Paul_Hofer:

Originally posted by miked1978:

Originally posted by brucesf49:
while the main subject is on his personal issue (while this is probably some family issue such as sickness/death) I have to make a comment on this bust thing. it is entirely possible that 1st round picks can end up being backups or role players. sometimes the blame is entirely on the drafter not the draftee. he should have been drafted later than he was. we have several 1st rounders who are backups on our team. I know he wasnt a high draft pick but it was a couple years till franklin got a lot of playin time.

This is true. If not mistaken Franklin sat the bench in Baltimore for 4 years and didn't make an impact with us until his 2nd year. Thats 5 years of non-productivity.

Balmer was selected too high but everyone knew he was a project and he probably would have been selected in the early 2nd round. Also he has Justin Smith and Isaac Soapaga in front of him at his position. Smith isn't going anywhere and Soap fits his role well.

I disagree that Balmer was picked too high. A concensus of major mock drafts that year had him in the first round at the 29th pick, exactly where he was picked.

I never saw him listed in any first round mock, the consensus to allot of people was that he was the 3rd best DT... still doesn't mean 1st round. And the majority of experts not named Keiper thought we reached for this pick.

That being said, good luck to him and whatever he is going through... I would still rather him be a productive player than get 5 minutes of laughter calling him a bust on a forum.

well you didnt do much research because he was a 1st rounder in most mocks

Originally posted by crabman82:
his leave of absence started the day after he was drafted

LOL!!!! So true!!