Former first-round pick just trying to keep a job ASHBURN — Kentwan Balmer entered the NFL as a first-round draft choice, a distinction that seems far-fetched three years later. Within two years, San Francisco traded him. Then Seattle cut him after one. Then Carolina cut him after a week.
And then nobody wanted him.
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So he doesn’t join the Redskins as a former first-round pick. Rather, he joins them as a guy trying to stick with a team.
“With my name comes a lot of baggage, a lot I brought on myself,” he said. “Time off is real humbling and made me realize my priorities. I’m just here to work.”
Balmer is one of four players added by Washington this week. The Redskins also signed receiver David Anderson, cornerback Domonique Johnson and offensive tackle Tyler Polumbus. The latter was signed as an undrafted free agent by Mike Shanahan in Denver in 2008. When the Broncos went to a power running game after Shanahan left, they cut Polumbus. He was released by Seattle, which uses a zone-blocking system similar to the Redskins’, last month.
But Balmer is the intriguing one because of his background.
“We know he has a lot of talent,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. “Hopefully he comes in here and does what he’s supposed to do. If he does, great. If he doesn’t, he won’t be here long.”
The 49ers traded him when he left training camp in 2010 for a personal matter and did not return. Reports say he was planning on returning when they traded him to Seattle.
“I didn’t have my priorities straight,” he said. “I can look back on a lot of situations and blame whoever or whatever team, but at the end of the day we’re all professionals and I didn’t always do what I was supposed to do.
“You come into the league with a lot of expectations and a lot of new things — money — and a lot of things come with that. Sometimes people handle it, and sometimes they don’t. … I had to get my priorities straight.”
Balmer has spent most of his brief career in a 3-4, and he’ll play end in Washington.
“They brought me in for versatility,” he said. “But I feel like I’m a defensive tackle. It’s not up to me, and I understand that now. I have to make the best of any opportunity they give me.”
