<table> </table> In one sense, the possible departure of Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen would be nothing new for the Chiefs.</p><p>They&#8217;ve lost premier defensive players before. Just in the last several years, the Chiefs had to replace cornerstones such as Derrick Thomas, Neil Smith, Albert Lewis and James Hasty.</p><p>The difference is those players were at or near the end of their careers. The 26-year-old Allen, suddenly the subject of heated-up trade talks, is in his prime &#8212; and that may make him the most difficult to replace, if it came to that.</p><p>The Chiefs have talked with the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers about a trade involving Allen, who led the NFL in sacks last season. Allen is in Minnesota meeting with the Vikings today, and a visit to Tampa could follow soon.</p><p>&#8220;He was the most disruptive player on that defense, that&#8217;s for sure,&#8221; said former Chiefs quarterback Rich Gannon, now a game analyst for CBS. &#8220;The thing I really like about him is that he plays with a lot of energy and effort. He doesn&#8217;t take plays off. He shows up in the running game. Those are things you like at that position. As a pure pass rusher, he runs the edge so well. It&#8217;s hard to find guys who can do that.</p><p>&#8220;When you lose a player like that, you don&#8217;t just find a replacement easily.&#8221;</p><p>Allen, the Chiefs&#8217; franchise player, has wanted out of Kansas City since negotiations for a long-term contract broke down last year. He has indicated he will not sign a long-term contract with the Chiefs if the sides don&#8217;t agree on a deal by July.</p><p>Allen had yet to discuss the particulars of a long-term contract with either the Vikings or Buccaneers. But a bigger obstacle could be an agreement between either team and the Chiefs on draft-choice compensation.</p><p>As the Chiefs&#8217; franchise player, Allen is free to sign a contract offer sheet with any other team.</p><p>If he does, the Chiefs have the right to match the offer and retain Allen.</p><p>If they declined to match the offer, the Chiefs would receive two first-round draft picks in exchange.</p><p>It&#8217;s unlikely that either the Vikings or Bucs would be willing to part with two first-round picks as well as satisfy Allen&#8217;s financial demands with a long-term deal. But one team or both may be willing to part with a first-round and lower-round choice.</p><p>The NFL draft is April 26 and 27. The Vikings have the 17th pick in the first round, and the Bucs have the 20th pick. Minnesota has two third-round choices, including one obtained in an earlier trade with Denver.</p><p>If the Chiefs sent Allen to the Vikings for Minnesota&#8217;s first- and initial third-round selections, that would give Kansas City two of the draft&#8217;s top 17 picks and five of the first 73.</p><p>By merely engaging in talks with the Vikings and Bucs, the Chiefs have in effect indicated they would accept less than two first-round picks for Allen. It was unclear what changed the Chiefs&#8217; thinking in this regard, though they appear to have made little or no progress in negotiating a long-term contract with Allen.</p><p>The Chiefs were cautious about giving Allen a long-term deal last year at least in part because of his two DUI arrests in Johnson County. He served a two-game NFL suspension at the beginning of last season for violation of the league&#8217;s substance-abuse policy and by all accounts appears to have changed his behavior in that regard.</p><p>In a statement released by the Chiefs, president/general manager Carl Peterson acknowledged discussions regarding a trade of Allen with teams he did not identify. A source indicated they were Minnesota, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, though the Jaguars later backed out of the discussions.