KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen was traded from Kansas City to the Minnesota Vikings in a blockbuster deal, making the Chiefs one of the major players in this weekend's NFL draft.

Kansas City gets Minnesota's first-round pick, No. 17 overall, and both of the Vikings' third-round selections, a person close to the negotiations said Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made.

Allen, who had an NFL-best 151/2 sacks last season despite being suspended the first two games, is expected to sign a lucrative new contract with Minnesota.

The Kansas City Star was the first to report the trade.

It's a hefty price for the Vikings, who were 8-8 last year. However, defensive end was their top priority after losing Kenechi Udeze to leukemia and with first-round pick Erasmus James coming off a third knee surgery. Allen will team with Pro Bowlers Kevin Williams and Pat Williams to form one of the league's most formidable defensive lines.

Just 26 and in his prime, the 6-foot-6, 270-pound Allen was a supplemental fourth-round pick by the Chiefs out of Idaho State in 2004. He quickly established himself as a top-flight pass-rusher, but also has a tendency to over-pursue and sometimes gets out of position on running plays.

Allen was recognized as the premier defensive player in NCAA Division I-AA as a senior, but fell to the fourth round because of character concerns. Last year the commissioner suspended him the first two games because of multiple DUI convictions and if he is cited again, he could be suspended for an entire year.

The Chiefs, coming off a 4-12 season and undergoing a massive rebuilding campaign, have their own fifth overall selection, six of the first 82 picks and 13 altogether in this weekend's draft.

Knowing they were going to embark on a youth movement under coach Herm Edwards, the Chiefs began hoarding extra selections last year. They were worried, however, that their supplemental picks were only in the later rounds.

There's no question that a major factor in Kansas City's willingness to deal defensive end Jared Allen to Minnesota was his two strikes in the league's substance-abuse program, dating back to his two-year-old driving-while-impaired arrests while a member of the Chiefs.

"Absolutely,'' club president Carl Peterson said late Wednesday from the Kansas City war room, where he was making final preparations for a suddenly very rich Chiefs draft. "You've got to weigh everything when you're considering a deal like this ... I have a fiduciary responsibility to this ownership, the Lamar Hunt family, to be cognizant of all the factors when making decisions of this magnitude.''

The league is still buzzing over the Allen deal. Minnesota traded the 17th pick in the first round plus two third-round choices to Kansas City for Allen, then made him the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history with a six-year, $74-million deal. This despite the fact that if he has a third alcohol-related incident, he is eligible to be suspended for up to a year by commissioner Roger Goodell.

SI.com's Don Banks reported on this site Wednesday that Allen will be free and clear of the league's substance-abuse program in September, when he reaches the two-year anniversary of his last driving-while-impaired arrest. That is true. But there is an asterisk to that. After being compliant and incident-free for two years, a player is eligible to exit the substance-abuse program. But Goodell retains the right to suspend a player for a violation after he exits the program.