Report: Chiefs trade CB Mark Fields to Vikings for 2021 seventh-round pick

According to a report from NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero, the Kansas City Chiefs have traded cornerback Mark Fields to the Minnesota Vikings.

According to Vikings beat reporter Courtney Cronin, the Chiefs are getting a seventh-round pick in 2021 in exchange for Fields.

According to another report from Kansas City Star Chiefs beat reporter Brooke Pryor, it is a conditional seventh-round pick.

Fields, 5 feet 9 and 192 pounds, was one of 17 undrafted players the Chiefs signed after the conclusion of the NFL Draft this past spring. In four years at Clemson, he played in 27 games, notching 39 tackles (32 solo) an interception for a touchdown, a sack and 11 passes defensed.

In an article from Arrowhead Pride’s Lottery Tickets series in mid-May, Craig Stout noted that Fields had a very high upside.

Fields exhibits the football acumen, speed and experience in coverage schemes that the Chiefs want to run. He’s got supremely high upside — higher than the Chiefs’ sixth-round pick, [Rashad] Fenton — and can contribute in year one as a gunner and a backup nickel cornerback.

However, he’s got a couple parts of his game as a cornerback that raised eyebrows for teams. On top of that, he has some warranted off-field concerns that prevented teams from wanting to make a major investment to try to unlock his high potential.

This is a very low-risk, potentially high-reward move — and arguably my favorite addition of the 2019 draft class. If Dave Merritt and Sam Madison can fix the ever-present “hop” off the snap and get Fields locked into playing the game, he is unquestionably a contributor at this level of the game. The reality of going undrafted might trigger the mental side and result in the Chiefs netting themselves a solid player.

But upside or not, Fields appears to have put himself in the doghouse with the Chiefs during Thursday night’s 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the preseason finale. In 40 defensive snaps, Fields made just one tackle — and even worse, committed costly penalties that led directly to two Packers touchdowns.

The Vikings, however, have had their eye on Fields. According to Cronin, the Vikings were interested in signing Fields after the draft.

So while Fields didn’t work out for the Chiefs, they have now been able to to acquire a conditional seventh-round pick for an undrafted player.