Brown continues to battle headaches

He practices Monday but Sept. 11 opener in doubt

He had passed the NFL’s concussion protocol. He had been cleared to return to practice more than a week ago. But receiver John Brown’s health status is as foggy as the headaches he keeps experiencing.

Cardinals coach Bruce Arians revealed on Monday that the third-year pro is still having headaches, “but he’s getting a little bit further along each day. Hopefully, he can make it through practice this week and be available.”

Arians said Brown has had two “headache-free” days since returning to practice, but the wideout also left practice early at least twice last week and he also sat out another practice entirely because of headache issues.

Asked how concerned he is about Brown’s ongoing headaches, Arians said: “I’ve been concerned the whole time. You hate to see it linger this long because you don’t really know what’s causing it, whether it was the concussion or whether it’s medicine or whatever it is.”

Brown practiced on Monday and afterward said he was “happy to see some improvement.” He also acknowledged that he’s on a certain type of medication, but he didn’t go into specifics about it.

He said he isn’t too concerned about the headaches because that’s something the doctors told him to expect. He is a little worried about how long the headaches have been lingering, however.

“Yes, because this is my first concussion, my first time dealing with it,” Brown said. “But the coaches and the trainers are doing a great job taking their time with it. We’re just waiting to see what the outcome is going to be.

“It’s been really hard just to see my teammates out there working real hard and I haven’t been able to help them and to not put in the type of work they’re putting in is kind of stressful.”

Brown couldn’t say if he’ll be ready to play when the Cardinals kick off the 2016 season on Sept. 11 against the visiting New England Patriots.

“I’m just taking it one day at a time,” he said. “My focus right now is just being able to practice, just being able to get through a full practice.”

Brown is a pivotal piece to a Cardinals’ offense that ranked No. 1 in the league last season.

He’s the team’s best deep threat and he emerged as one of Carson Palmer’s top targets as a rookie coming out of tiny Pittsburg State.

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