KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Since hiring Brett Veach as their new general manager this summer, the Kansas City Chiefs traded a couple of future draft picks, one a fifth-rounder in 2018, the other a fourth-rounder in 2019.

That wouldn't usually be a significant thing except the Chiefs were already without next year's first-round pick, which they sent to the Buffalo Bills as part of the trade that allowed them to move up to draft quarterback Patrick Mahomes II.

The Chiefs won't have to completely sit out upcoming drafts, at least not yet. But on the surface it does look like they're in a future-is-now mode.

Veach said they aren't, pointing to the return for the two picks. In one trade, the Chiefs received 23-year-old linebacker Reggie Ragland, who was drafted last year by the Bills in the second round. In the other, they acquired 25-year-old offensive lineman Cameron Erving, a 2015 first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns.

"We're always going to value draft picks and we're always going to build through the draft," Veach said. "They're just unique situations where if you can acquire younger players on their rookie (contracts) that you like, you have to look at (them).

"You'll have opportunities to recoup some picks in regards to those compensatory picks. We'll get some of those back."

The process of recouping the picks has already started. The Chiefs acquired two conditional seventh-round picks for 2018 in cutdown-day trades, one from the Tennessee Titans for defensive lineman David King and one from the Seattle Seahawks for offensive lineman Isaiah Battle.

The Chiefs may also receive a compensatory pick in 2018 for losing quarterback Nick Foles this year in free agency to the Philadelphia Eagles. Overthecap.com, which does an excellent job of projecting comp picks, suggests the Chiefs will receive a fifth-round choice next year for losing Foles.

The Chiefs are looking at Ragland and Erving as their own draft picks. Both are players the Chiefs had high on their boards when they came out in the draft.

Ragland in particular seems worth the fourth-round pick the Chiefs sent to the Bills. He tore his ACL and missed his entire rookie season in Buffalo, but he's only 23 and has three seasons remaining on his contract.

"If you're able to get Reggie up and running, get his legs underneath him and get him rolling where you have him rocking and rolling Weeks 10 through 16 (this season) and then into 2018 and 2019 ... that's potentially a 2018 (second-, third- or fourth-round pick) that you're not using on (an inside) linebacker," Veach said. "That's a tradeoff.

"Now there's a gamble because the kid has to get back to where he was. But if you believe in the kid and the player on tape and you believe in your training staff and the information that you've been given ... those are gambles that we're willing to take."