Packers defensive lineman Mike Pennel has been suspended four games by the NFL for violating the substance abuse policy. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Green Bay— If the Green Bay Packers are trying to prove the embarrassing off-season they went through a year ago was an anomaly, they're not off to a very good start.

Once again, the season was barely over before a misstep took place, this time in the form of a four-game suspension handed down to promising young defensive lineman Mike Pennel for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

Any hopes the Packers had of Pennel picking up where he left off at the end of the 2015 season were squashed with news of his suspension, which will begin at the start of the '16 campaign. During those four weeks, Pennel will not be allowed to practice or play, although he can continue to train at the facility.

Neither of Pennel's representatives returned email messages seeking comment.

Pennel, entering his third season, has been a backup nose tackle and end the past two seasons and has made great strides since entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State-Pueblo. Last season, he played in all 18 games, starting five, and had 38 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

The 6-foot-4, 332-pound Pennel hasn't played up to his athletic potential yet and wasn't guaranteed a roster spot next season, but the Packers were counting on him to bolster their front line. If nose tackle B.J. Raji leaves in free agency, general manager Ted Thompson will be in the market for another big man to help him get through next season.

Pennel is the third Packers defensive lineman and fourth player overall to be suspended in the last year.

Just hours after the Packers returned home from their NFC Championship Game loss to Seattle in '15, defensive end Datone Jones was arrested and charged with marijuana possession. On July 2, the NFL announced he would be suspended for one game.

Jones paid an $880 fine to dismiss the charge.

It was about this time a year ago that defensive tackle Letroy Guion was arrested on drug and gun charges. Police seized 357 grams of marijuana, a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and more than $190,000 from a bag in Guion's vehicle during a traffic stop.

Guion ultimately pleaded no contest to possession of marijuana and paid a $5,000 fine. The charge of having a gun while committing a felony was dropped and, based on the terms of a plea deal, Guion avoided a conviction on his record.

On Aug. 27, the NFL suspended him for three games.

In addition to those three, cornerback Jarrett Bush was suspended four games for violating the NFL policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Bush was a free agent at the time the suspension was announced and it's not known if the violation occurred the previous season.

The off-season also included the arrest of tight end Andrew Quarless for firing a gun in public outside a Miami Beach parking garage. Quarless, who is a free agent, hasn't been suspended, but the NFL was still examining the case late in the season.

He was sentenced to a year of probation and fined $1,000 on Nov. 30.

The announcement on Pennel had nothing to do with the Packers signing Guion to a three-year, $11.05 million deal last week. The league typically doesn't inform teams of a suspension until an appeal is exhausted and the penalty is official. The Packers may not have found out about it until Friday.

The four-game suspension means this isn't the first time Pennel has violated the substance abuse program. A player has to be in Stage Two of the program to suffer a penalty as strict as a four-game suspension. The violation could have been for testing positive for a banned substance or missing a drug test.

According to the NFL's substance abuse policy, if a player tests positive for marijuana while in Stage Two he "shall be subject to a fine of two-seventeenths (two weeks) of the Paragraph 5 amount in his NFL Player Contract."

Because Pennel was suspended four games and not just fined two weeks pay, he either violated his treatment plan, which could have included a prohibition on drinking alcohol; missed a scheduled drug test; or tested positive for a harsher drug than marijuana. The NFL does not reveal which violation was committed.

He is due a base salary of $600,000 next season, which means he'll forfeit $141,176.

Pennel is a childhood kidney cancer survivor who grew into a mountain of a man. He played at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College and then Arizona State, but he clashed with the Sun Devils' coach and finished at Colorado State-Pueblo.

Pennell played 14.5% of the defensive snaps as a rookie with the Packers and saw an increase to 26.5% last year. His number of snaps next season would have depended on whether he took another step forward in his development.

Now he'll have to hope the four-game bump in the road doesn't derail his season.