Andre Brown, who spent the 2011 season on the New York Giants practice squad, has been suspended for four games by the NFL for violating the league’s policy on performance enhancing substances. Brown will not be eligible for the Giants’ first four games of the 2012.

The Giants drafted Brown out of North Carolina State in the fourth round of the 2009 draft. He ruptured his Achilles’ tendon that August and spent the season on injured reserve. He was waived in September 2010.

He then spent the 2010 season with four different teams — with the Carolina Panthers, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins — and appeared in four games.

The Giants re-signed him last August.

Brown might have had an opportunity to work his way into the backfield rotation in 2012 with Brandon Jacobs having signed with the San Francisco 49ers. It would now seem unlikely, however, that Brown will ever play a significant role for the Giants.