AFC South Weekend Moves: Indianapolis Colts Make a Trade

Over the weekend, there were a few moves of note made by AFC South teams.

• Indianapolis traded for quarterback Drew Stanton.

• The Colts signed wideout Donnie Avery.

• The Texans saw Joel Dreessen sign with the Broncos.

• The Colts lost Jacob Tamme to the Broncos, Jeff Saturday to the Packers and Mike Pollak to the Panthers.

The Stanton trade sent the Eagles' sixth-round pick (acquired in a swap for Winston Justice) to the Jets in exchange for the Jaguars' seventh-round pick, which they had obtained in the Tebow deal via Denver.

The result of the two trades is that the Colts picked up Justice and Stanton for the equivalent of dealing out of the sixth round and into the seventh. They have the same total number of picks, but one is a round later than would have otherwise been allotted.

Stanton is a serviceable backup for Andrew Luck, but of no real consequence.

The signing of Donnie Avery is a low-risk, low-reward move. Avery has had just three catches in two years, and will likely struggle to beat out even undrafted players as he has struggled with knee injuries throughout his brief career. His DVOA numbers and catch rate were never strong even when he was healthy.

The Texans were stung by the departure of Dreessen, who they hoped to re-sign. Dreessen caught a career-high six touchdowns in 2011 as he formed a nice compliment to Owen Daniels. The exodus of solid players continues unabated in Houston as the front office continues to deal with the ramifications of the salary cap roll-back that affected so many teams.

The Colts surprisingly made little effort to retain Tamme despite his receiving ability. They had tried to lure Saturday into a front office job, but he wanted one more attempt to win a ring and signed with the Packers. Pollak underperformed in Indianapolis, and the team had no interest in retaining him.