(Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Vikings acquire Mark Fields from Chiefs for conditional 2021 pick
Fields is an undrafted free agent from Clemson who was involved in an odd preseason controversy involving ESPN and Kansas City head coach Andy Reid.
August 31, 2019 at 10:59PM
It seemed throughout training camp as though the Vikings might make a move to add secondary depth to their roster before Saturday's deadline to cut rosters down to 53 players. They kicked off cutdown day with a trade to help their defensive backfield.
The team acquired cornerback Mark Fields from the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2021. Fields, a Clemson product the Chiefs signed as an undrafted free agent, showed some promise through training camp, but struggled as the preseason went on. The Vikings, though, are ostensibly betting on their ability to coax something out of him in their system now that he's heading to Minnesota.
The cornerback was the subject of an interesting exchange in the middle of the preseason, when ESPN NFL analyst Todd McShay — who was part of the broadcast team for a preseason Chiefs-Packers game — seemed to be caught on the air relaying information from coach Andy Reid, expressing skepticism about Fields, during a commercial break. Fields was called for a pair of pass interference penalties and a face mask penalty during the game.
Nonetheless, he'll get his chance to help the Vikings, who'll need some cornerback depth until Mike Hughes makes his return to the field.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.