The Redskins Blog

Balmer Seeking Perfection For Defense

The tutelage of Washington Redskins’ defensive line coach Jacob Burney has stuck with defensive end Kentwan Balmer.

Balmer said he feels Burney’s never-ending pursuit of perfection will take the Redskins’ defense to new heights in 2012.

“Coach Burney, you know he’s going to be on you to be a perfectionist, so we come out here seeking perfection,” Balmer said Thursday after the team’s sixth round of organized team activities for the 2012 season. “We just come out here trying to get better every day, try to learn something new every day in our pursuit of perfection.”

Balmer, 25, played in the Redskins’ final three games of the season in 2011 after being picked up from the Seattle Seahawks, where in 2010, Balmer played in all 16 games — starting 10 — and collecting a career-best 43 tackles.

The 6-5, 315-pounder was a 2008 first-round pick (29th overall) of the San Francisco 49ers, where he played two seasons before being traded to the Seahawks in August 2010.

Now in his fifth NFL season, Balmer said he wants to help propel the Redskins’ defense into achieving its goals for 2012.

“Being a top-five defense is definitely a goal that we’re chasing,” Balmer said. “We know we’re capable of it — we’ve just got to put it all together.”

Off the field, Balmer, a Weldon, N.C., native, said he recently got engaged and has enjoyed settling down with his fiancée and his family.

“I’m spending a lot of time with my lady now,” Balmer said. “I guess I had a lot of daggers in me when I got here, but you get better with age. Everybody does.

“We just kind of chill out, play Wii, grill out with the family. I only live 3 ½ hours from there. We go there on the weekends and chill, be low-key and try to fly under the radar.”