Chiefs news: Kansas City trade with Vikings tries to fortify defense vs Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Justin Herbert

The Chiefs and the Vikings agreed to a trade on Thursday which sends Minnesota cornerback Mike Hughes to the AFC champions.

The Kansas City Chiefs improved their offensive line in the NFL draft. Thursday afternoon, they took a low-risk gamble on a cornerback they showed interest in three years ago. Kansas City and the Minnesota Vikings agreed to a trade which sends Minnesota cornerback Mike Hughes to the AFC champions, with the teams swapping late-round picks in the 2022 NFL draft. Kansas City is clearly trying to boost its secondary against Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, division foe Justin Herbert, and other top quarterbacks in the AFC.

Chiefs and Vikings swapped late-round draft picks, with Kansas City also getting back Minnesota’s 2018 first-round pick, per source. https://t.co/EiWiQFgAQS

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 13, 2021

The exact compensation on the Chiefs’ latest trade: https://t.co/isENwFUzIp

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 13, 2021

Chiefs Wire provided background on this deal, explaining that Kansas City did a lot of legwork on Hughes preceding the 2018 NFL draft, in which Hughes was taken in the first round by the Vikings at pick No. 30:

A former 2018 first-round draft pick out of the University of Central Florida, Hughes was among the players that the Chiefs showed interest in ahead of the 2018 NFL draft. They spent a lot of time with him at the UCF pro day. He was among the players the team brought in for a top-30 visit. They’ve really been interested in Hughes for a while and as soon as Minnesota made him available it’s no surprise to see them acquire him.

Hughes has not panned out in Minnesota, however. This is why the Chiefs are getting him at a bargain-basement price. He has appeared in only 24 games over three seasons, starting in only seven. He has forced three fumbles, recovered two, made two interceptions, and recorded 80 total tackles. That is not the return on investment a first-round pick is supposed to deliver in three seasons.

To be fair to Hughes, injuries have been a problem. He tore his ACL in his rookie season, and suffered a neck injury late in his second season which limited his participation in his third season last year. The Chiefs are clearly betting that their research into Hughes, combined with a possible recovery from injury, will give the player a fresh start in a new setting and the team a chance to transform a career which has fallen well short of its potential.