More than a month after the NFL Combine and just a few weeks from the draft, UNC defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer is still an enigma. FanHouse's Michael David Smith reported that Balmer used the Combine to improve his stock, particularly since Glenn Dorsey didn't participate.
But after his Pro Day earlier this week, Balmer's draft status is more unclear than ever. At least to hear ProFootballWeekly.com's Nolan Nawrocki explain it:
Disheartening to scouts who watched him clock a good time [in the 40-yard dash] was the way Balmer reacted, claiming that he tweaked his hamstring and could not run a second time. Despite the so-called injury, the career underachiever was able to go through a full positional workout, leaving scouts feeling like they had just been misled about an injury.Wow, way to hold back, Nolan. Interestingly, I came away feeling exactly the opposite about Balmer after reading MDS' report. Maybe Nolan's source is just really down on Balmer, or maybe something's changed in the last six weeks. Whatever, Balmer's still the third-best defensive tackle in the draft behind Dorsey and Sedrick Ellis. And as has been the case all off-season, the only question is when he'll get drafted.
"He has no career production," one evaluator said. "He's got excuses for everything, and he did the same thing (Tuesday) when he pulled himself out of the workout. I would be surprised if he gets drafted in the first round."
Despite Nawrocki's doubts, he admits that the Packers and Giants, two teams picking late in the first round, are interested. And there's never been a first-round pick who proved to be a shiftless layabout, so it can't be as bad as all that.*
* This does not include Lawrence Phillips, Charles Rogers, Mike Williams, Ryan Leaf and countless others.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-06-2008 @ 1:20AM
Peter said...
Balmer is entirely overrated, and he is certainly not the 3rd best DT in this draft either. If he does get drafted in the first, he's a bust in the making.
His senior year was his "breakout" season supposedly, but when you look closely at it the competition he was playing against in his senior year was awful, and almost every one of his sacks and hurries came against the very weakest of the weak (East Carolina? Maryland?). In other words, the guy isn't going to be pressuring any QB anywhere in the NFL. And the way the NFL is evolving with increased emphasis on the pass rush, for a DT it is a very important skill to be able to apply pressure and open up opportunities for the DE's...Balmer can't do it now, and I doubt he has the worth ethic to do it in the future.
Trevor Laws should be higher than Balmer, in my personal opinion.
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4-06-2008 @ 1:22AM
ryan said...
Peter,
Good points all around.
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4-14-2008 @ 3:35PM
Rodney P said...
Balmer's career, even dating back to high school, has always revolved around quality coaching. He didn't do anything in his first two years of high school ball, even with his size. When head coach Grady Williams, a former NAIA All-American defensive tackle at Elon, entered the pictured, Balmer dominate. In college, three years of John Bunting didn't yield any results. As soon as head coach Butch Davis and defensive line coach John Blake, who both won Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, arrived, his production picked up. He's still a raw prospect, and if he gets good defensive line coaching in the NFL, which he should get, he'll be a good player, maybe even an All-Pro at some point in his career.
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