Cardinals add John Abraham, Eric Winston while rookie retires

• Abraham%2C NFL%27s active sack leader%2C will play linebacker in Arizona%27s 3-4 defense
• Winston will likely start at right tackle as he did for the Texans and Chiefs
• Latest concussion seems to have ended Ryan Swope%27s NFL career before it began

The Arizona Cardinals' roster renovation is apparently a project that's not going to end anytime soon.

It continued Thursday when the team agreed to terms with an offensive tackle who could win a starting job and a pass rusher with a history of getting to the quarterback.

Eric Winston, formerly with the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs, reached terms on a one-year deal and will compete for the right tackle job. John Abraham, whose 122 sacks lead all active players, agreed to a two-year contract.

Abraham's acquisition made outside linebacker O'Brien Schofield, a fourth-round pick in 2010, expendable. Injuries have hampered Schofield throughout his career, although he has said he was in good health entering this season. He was told not to participate in a conditioning run on Thursday and left the field as other players entered. Schofield was released in the evening.

Coach Bruce Arians declined to address the changes when he met with reporters early in the afternoon.

"We're always going to turn over every stone we can turn to make our team better," Arians said. "It's a cold business some days."

Guard Jonathan Cooper, the team's first-round pick, has not signed. The sticking point is "offset" language that deals with guaranteed money in the event Cooper is ever released. Most teams, including the Cardinals, want financial protection in that situation.

At least the protection for quarterback Carson Palmer should be better with Winston and left tackle Levi Brown, who missed last season with a triceps tear, in the lineup.

Through the spring and summer, Arians expressed confidence that the offensive line was good enough for the Cardinals to succeed. Lately, however, there have been reports that coaches were not satisfied with Brown's performance in the offseason. Brown declined comment after the conditioning test, saying he had a meeting to attend.

Winston has played right tackle throughout his career, starting every game in six years with the Texans and last year with the Chiefs. Both teams released him for what were described as salary cap reasons.

"I'm kind of going into this wide-eyed and knowing that I have to go and compete and win another spot like I have the last seven years," Winston said on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Thursday. "That's kind of the way I always approach it, no matter what my contract's always been or the stipulations have been."

In the last week of June practices, starting right tackle Bobby Massie and reserve left tackle Nate Potter flipped spots. Arians said then the move was made just to cross-train players.

Adding Winston also could be a response to the team's past problems. The Cardinals were caught short of talent and experience when went down last August. Prior to Thursday, he was the only tackle on the roster with more than a year of starting experience.

Winston, 29, will make close to the veteran's minimum of $840,000 if he makes the team. There are bonuses that will reward him for starting.

Abraham's two-year is worth $6 million, according to reports. Contract details are not available, so it's unknown how much of that $6 million is guaranteed.

Abraham is 35 but he has missed only two games over the last six seasons with the Atlanta Falcons. With the Cardinals, he is likely to be a situational player, contributing in obvious passing situations.

Rookie retires: Ryan Swope's NFL career is over because of concussions, at least for now.

In a statement released by his agents, the Arizona Cardinals rookie receiver said doctors told him there were "serious risks in returning to play football at this point" after he suffered another concussion during organized team activity practices this spring.

"It has been a lifelong dream to play in the NFL but my long-term health interests outweigh my current goals for football," Swope said in the statement. "Because of that, I am electing to retire from the game for now and then reassess my future after this season."

The Cardinals placed Swope, a sixth-round draft pick out of Texas A&M, on the reserve/retired list. General manager Steve Keim said the team was aware Swope had a concussion history in college "and understood that it could be an issue" before the Cardinals drafted him.

"But weighing all the elements — the medical information available, the particular position in the draft — it was a decision we were comfortable making," Keim said in the statement. "As it turned out, he had a setback after he got here."

Swope said he'll return to Texas A&M to pursue his degree.

Contributing: USA TODAY Sports' Tom Pelissero

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Somers also writes for The Arizona Republic, a Gannett property