Kentwan Balmer: You Better Get Your S**t Together!

he's going to get more playing time with Evans out, hope he makes a play

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Balmer and Rachal are both sub par players. Wasted draft picks. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out either. Whenever we speak of a player's "potential" or that he'll "figure it out" we're basically saying he's sucked so far but lets hope he can get it together. You see all kinds of linemen (offensive and defensive) drafted in the first 2 rounds that make solid contributions in their first few years.

Rachal is lazy. That's why he gets beat. Go back and look at any of the plays where he gives up a negative play...he's always standing flatfooted as the guy runs by him.

These are the type of draft mistakes that separate a winning and losing team. Of course no team hits on every 1st rounder, but to get no contribution (or negative in Chilo's case) from the first 4 picks of your 2008 draft now in 2009? That's HORRIBLE.

Sorry...I know the truth hurts.

I think he will ride the bench for years to come.

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Balmer and Rachal are both sub par players. Wasted draft picks. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out either. Whenever we speak of a player's "potential" or that he'll "figure it out" we're basically saying he's sucked so far but lets hope he can get it together. You see all kinds of linemen (offensive and defensive) drafted in the first 2 rounds that make solid contributions in their first few years.

Rachal is lazy. That's why he gets beat. Go back and look at any of the plays where he gives up a negative play...he's always standing flatfooted as the guy runs by him.

These are the type of draft mistakes that separate a winning and losing team. Of course no team hits on every 1st rounder, but to get no contribution (or negative in Chilo's case) from the first 4 picks of your 2008 draft now in 2009? That's HORRIBLE.

Sorry...I know the truth hurts.

The 49ers have drafted pretty well in the last few years. Not every player is going to be a superstar. The thing with last year's is that all the lineman I think we suspected would be there were gone by the time we drafted. I was shocked at the lineman getting taken in the first round last year. And Shilo looked pretty good up until this year. It just isn't clicking for him but he better get his act together because we have no one else to put in. Balmer I haven't even noticed other than seeing flashes of his number. Of course, you aren't really going to notice the front 3 in a 3 4. They aren't there to penetrate but rather create space.

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Balmer and Rachal are both sub par players. Wasted draft picks. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out either. Whenever we speak of a player's "potential" or that he'll "figure it out" we're basically saying he's sucked so far but lets hope he can get it together. You see all kinds of linemen (offensive and defensive) drafted in the first 2 rounds that make solid contributions in their first few years.

Rachal is lazy. That's why he gets beat. Go back and look at any of the plays where he gives up a negative play...he's always standing flatfooted as the guy runs by him.

These are the type of draft mistakes that separate a winning and losing team. Of course no team hits on every 1st rounder, but to get no contribution (or negative in Chilo's case) from the first 4 picks of your 2008 draft now in 2009? That's HORRIBLE.

That's Scotty M. for you. And the YORKIES who put up with it.

How are the 2009 picks not contributing BTW? DIVA is already a good player after only a few weeks in the system.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Balmer and Rachal are both sub par players. Wasted draft picks. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out either. Whenever we speak of a player's "potential" or that he'll "figure it out" we're basically saying he's sucked so far but lets hope he can get it together. You see all kinds of linemen (offensive and defensive) drafted in the first 2 rounds that make solid contributions in their first few years.

Rachal is lazy. That's why he gets beat. Go back and look at any of the plays where he gives up a negative play...he's always standing flatfooted as the guy runs by him.

These are the type of draft mistakes that separate a winning and losing team. Of course no team hits on every 1st rounder, but to get no contribution (or negative in Chilo's case) from the first 4 picks of your 2008 draft now in 2009? That's HORRIBLE.

That's Scotty M. for you. And the YORKIES who put up with it.

How are the 2009 picks not contributing BTW? DIVA is already a good player after only a few weeks in the system.

I think getting Crabtree will always make the 09 draft look good. It's just a total lack of production from basically an entire draft class (08) that gets me upset.

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Balmer and Rachal are both sub par players. Wasted draft picks. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out either. Whenever we speak of a player's "potential" or that he'll "figure it out" we're basically saying he's sucked so far but lets hope he can get it together. You see all kinds of linemen (offensive and defensive) drafted in the first 2 rounds that make solid contributions in their first few years.

Rachal is lazy. That's why he gets beat. Go back and look at any of the plays where he gives up a negative play...he's always standing flatfooted as the guy runs by him.

These are the type of draft mistakes that separate a winning and losing team. Of course no team hits on every 1st rounder, but to get no contribution (or negative in Chilo's case) from the first 4 picks of your 2008 draft now in 2009? That's HORRIBLE.

That's Scotty M. for you. And the YORKIES who put up with it.

How are the 2009 picks not contributing BTW? DIVA is already a good player after only a few weeks in the system.

I think getting Crabtree will always make the 09 draft look good. It's just a total lack of production from basically an entire draft class (08) that gets me upset.

Yes me too. But in fairness however evaluating the 08 draft class in 09 (a popular sport on the WZ) is completely rediculous. It takes at least 3, 4 or 5 years to properly evaluate a draft class. Some of those guys may still come around.

There is absolutely no way you can evaluate a draft class 1 year later. Having said that I also have concerns at the present time at least about 08.

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Balmer and Rachal are both sub par players. Wasted draft picks. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out either. Whenever we speak of a player's "potential" or that he'll "figure it out" we're basically saying he's sucked so far but lets hope he can get it together. You see all kinds of linemen (offensive and defensive) drafted in the first 2 rounds that make solid contributions in their first few years.

Rachal is lazy. That's why he gets beat. Go back and look at any of the plays where he gives up a negative play...he's always standing flatfooted as the guy runs by him.

These are the type of draft mistakes that separate a winning and losing team. Of course no team hits on every 1st rounder, but to get no contribution (or negative in Chilo's case) from the first 4 picks of your 2008 draft now in 2009? That's HORRIBLE.

That's Scotty M. for you. And the YORKIES who put up with it.

How are the 2009 picks not contributing BTW? DIVA is already a good player after only a few weeks in the system.

I think getting Crabtree will always make the 09 draft look good. It's just a total lack of production from basically an entire draft class (08) that gets me upset.

Yes me too. But in fairness however evaluating the 08 draft class in 09 (a popular sport on the WZ) is completely rediculous. It takes at least 3, 4 or 5 years to properly evaluate a draft class. Some of those guys may still come around.

There is absolutely no way you can evaluate a draft class 1 year later. Having said that I also have concerns at the present time at least about 08.

I agree that it's early...but I think I would be less concerned if Balmer, Rachal, or Reggie Smith had actually made some meaningful impact thus far...

I think the '07 class looks great...Willis, Staley, Hill (lesser extent), Ray McDonald, Goldson, Tarell Brown...all of those guys have made HUGE impacts on our team and by last year, we knew we had good to great players in Willis, Staley, Goldson and Brown.

Even the '06 class is looking better with VD becoming a star and Lawson becoming a solid starter. M-Rob is a contributor as is Parys Haralson and Delanie Walker.

So I don't think our recent drafts as a whole have been horrible...I just think we totally screwed up '08 and we can't afford a mulligan on a whole draft...

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:

Originally posted by SanDiego49er:

Originally posted by Leathaface:
Balmer and Rachal are both sub par players. Wasted draft picks. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out either. Whenever we speak of a player's "potential" or that he'll "figure it out" we're basically saying he's sucked so far but lets hope he can get it together. You see all kinds of linemen (offensive and defensive) drafted in the first 2 rounds that make solid contributions in their first few years.

Rachal is lazy. That's why he gets beat. Go back and look at any of the plays where he gives up a negative play...he's always standing flatfooted as the guy runs by him.

These are the type of draft mistakes that separate a winning and losing team. Of course no team hits on every 1st rounder, but to get no contribution (or negative in Chilo's case) from the first 4 picks of your 2008 draft now in 2009? That's HORRIBLE.

That's Scotty M. for you. And the YORKIES who put up with it.

How are the 2009 picks not contributing BTW? DIVA is already a good player after only a few weeks in the system.

I think getting Crabtree will always make the 09 draft look good. It's just a total lack of production from basically an entire draft class (08) that gets me upset.

Yes me too. But in fairness however evaluating the 08 draft class in 09 (a popular sport on the WZ) is completely rediculous. It takes at least 3, 4 or 5 years to properly evaluate a draft class. Some of those guys may still come around.

There is absolutely no way you can evaluate a draft class 1 year later. Having said that I also have concerns at the present time at least about 08.

I agree that it's early...but I think I would be less concerned if Balmer, Rachal, or Reggie Smith had actually made some meaningful impact thus far...

I think the '07 class looks great...Willis, Staley, Hill (lesser extent), Ray McDonald, Goldson, Tarell Brown...all of those guys have made HUGE impacts on our team and by last year, we knew we had good to great players in Willis, Staley, Goldson and Brown.

Even the '06 class is looking better with VD becoming a star and Lawson becoming a solid starter. M-Rob is a contributor as is Parys Haralson and Delanie Walker.

So I don't think our recent drafts as a whole have been horrible...I just think we totally screwed up '08 and we can't afford a mulligan on a whole draft...

Balmer seemed like a total reach "PROJECT" type of player. I never understood that pick and still don't now. I don't know what happened to Chilo? He was a good player in college. He seems completely lost. Hopefully he will come around.

[ Edited by SanDiego49er on Nov 7, 2009 at 01:35:53 ]

Name one good play that Balmer has made. Nobody can think of any.

Not wishing to defend the 08 draft, but Morgan seems to have been forgotten.

But SD is right. Another year is needed before we can fairly critique the draft. I would like to think that one of the top two picks will become a regular starter

yesterday was the first time I ever noticed Kentwan Balmer in a game. in the past, I merely knew he was on the field from time to time.

Ok, so I'll be the first to admit I was wrong. Maybe 2010 will be his breakout year?

one of scottys worst draft picks...waste of a first rounder

Originally posted by PTulini:





I honestly think this could be the breakout year for 2008 1st round pick, DE Kentwan Balmer. It is well known that most defensive Linemen take time to develop into productive NFL players. A majority of that reason is due to needing to learn proper technique as the game is much faster than in college. Professional players can not succeed solely on brute strength. Balmer has now had one full off-season to develop his game. He has participated in nearly every off-season workout, OTA, and mini camps. (Even when he was not required to attend!) Kentwan has also spent this off-season working out with fellow DE, Justin Smith. Smith is a consummate professional and the ideal person for KB to learn from!

It has been written that Balmer has improved greatly and our coaches (mainly DC Greg Manusky and HC Mike Singletary) are really impressed by him.

Quote:
On Kentwan Balmer’s progress:

“Kentwan is one of those guys that I am very, very excited about, as well as the other coaches. He has made such great strides in maturity, development. For him to come out here, just to give you an example, this speaks volumes. I don’t need to say anything else about him. For him to come out here, with the veterans, our first mini-camp and go through that whole camp, knowing that it was going to be painful and then to come right back out here with the rookies, when the rookies have to do it, and I told all the veterans, you don’t have to do it. He was the only veteran that I couldn’t run off. He wanted to do it and he was fine and that was a very tough thing, but said a lot for him.”

On if he thinks Balmer will be able to make an impact this season:

“Absolutely. All you have to do is talk to him a little bit, watch him work. He worked with Justin Smith the whole offseason and that’s just been great for him and he’s got a tremendous work ethic. I remember when we drafted him, I talked to his coach in college, John Blake at North Carolina. He said, ‘Mike, all of Kentwan’s ability and his ability to make plays is in front of him. He’s very raw.’ That was an understatement. He was raw coming in. You kind of look at him and you think, ‘Man, okay, I’m waiting.’ And toward the end of last season, I’m telling you, I can understand what Scot [McCloughan] saw in him because he has a heck of a package and a lot of ability. I’m very excited about him.”

Singletary's Notebook: June 5

Quote:
Many defensive linemen before Balmer have needed at least a year to work on technique before making any impact. In that sense, this brutal game is a little like ballet. You can't do it on talent alone.

"The first year for D-linemen is so much technique," general manager Scot McCloughan said. "In college, you can get away with speed, quickness and power. In the NFL, you can't do that. The linemen are too good."

McCloughan said defensive coordinator Greg Manusky told him Balmer was his most improved player from last year to this. McCloughan said he's "very excited at what he's going to bring this year."

One difference in Balmer this year is that he has trimmed nine pounds, down to 306, on his 6-foot-5 frame. He's not beefy enough to play nose tackle, but during 11-on-11 drills he rotated through all three line positions in the 3-4 defense, then switched sides entirely to play left end on the field goal kicking team.

Lineman Works to Fulfill 1st Round Promise

In closing, I would not be suprised if we do see a drastic improvement in KB. In fact, I have a feeling that by mid-season, Kentwan Balmer will be the starting Defensive End opposite Justin Smith. I wish him the best in hopes that he can justify his 1st round draft status. Here's to you, KB!

dont know about anyone else but i would never post a something about a player i believe will have a "breakout" year with a pic of that player getting his ass handed to him.