Cardinals release Schofield, place Swope on reserve/retired list

The Cardinals were quite busy on Thursday, making a lot of moves on the eve of training camp.

First, they signed linebacker John Abraham and right tackle Eric Winston to deals. Then they released linebacker O’Brien Schofield and placed wide receiver Ryan Swope on the reserve/retired list due to recurring concussion issues.

Finally, the team added another linebacker, in the form of Kenny Rowe.

Schofield played in and started nine games for the Cardinals in 2012. He had 34 tackles and four sacks before an ankle injury ended his season.

Schofield was to make $1.323 million this season. He’ll make a good addition to another team looking for outside linebacker help.

Swope was one of the Cardinals two sixth-round draft choices (174th overall) in the 2013 NFL Draft.

“We knew Ryan has a concussion history in college and understood that it could possibly be an issue,” said general manager Steve Keim. “But weighing all the elements – the medical information available, the particular position in the draft – it was a decision we were comfortable making. As it turned out, he had a setback after he got here. Over the course of the subsequent evaluations, we all decided that Ryan’s long-term well-being was the number-one priority and this was the best course to take.”

Rowe comes to the Cardinals by way of the San Francisco 49ers. He spent the last two seasons on their training camp roster after joining the team in 2011 as a rookie free agent.

Rowe played his college ball at the University of Oregon (2007-10). He played in 52 games and had 109 tackles, 23.5 sacks and 37.5 tackles for loss.