Chiefs' Rok Watkins suspended 4 games for violating substance-abuse policy

The only Kansas City Chiefs news this time of year is generally bad Chiefs news. Chiefs guard Rokevious Watkins has been suspended four games for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy, the KC Star's Randy Covitz first reported.

#Chiefs guard Rokevious Watkins suspended for 4 games for violating NFL substance abuse policy

— Randy Covitz (@randycovitz) July 3, 2014

This is Watkins second suspension under the substance-abuse policy. The first one came last offseason when he was a member of the St. Louis Rams. This suspension should cover the first four games of the season, which include the Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots.

From a depth standpoint this doesn't cripple the Chiefs or anything. They signed Jeff Linkenbach in the offseason to play guard and tackle.

Watkins, who joined the Chiefs prior to last season, was expected to be among a group of players competing for the right guard job. He was not regularly getting first team snaps there during the offseason. So a four-game suspension for someone who was likely slated to be a backup is not a good thing.

Also recently suspended was Miami Dolphins' Dion Jordan. For the Chiefs, this is the second negative event this offseason (besides the whole free agency thing) following Sean Smith's DUI arrest.