Marcell Dareus sent home from Baltimore after violating Bills team rule

— -- Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus was sent home Saturday before the Bills' preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens for violating an unspecified team rule, the team confirmed.

It is unclear whether Dareus would have played in the game had he not violated the team rule. Dareus was limited in practice this week with quad and hip injuries.

This is Dareus' first rules violation that has been made public under first-year coach Sean McDermott, although Dareus has faced discipline for various infractions since entering the league as the third overall selection of the 2011 draft.

Dareus was benched for parts of games twice by former Bills coach Doug Marrone late in the 2013 season for being late to team meetings.

In 2015, the NFL suspended Dareus for the first game of the regular season for a violation of the league's substance abuse policy after Dareus was arrested in Alabama in May of 2014 for possession of marijuana. He later entered a pretrial intervention program to have the charge dropped.

Dareus was also arrested in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg in May of 2014 on street racing charges after crashing his vehicle into a restaurant parking lot. He later agreed to a plea deal that reduced the charges to traffic tickets.

Last August, Dareus was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2016 regular season for another violation of the substance abuse policy. Dareus, who later said he missed a drug test, received treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) before returning to the team in October.

Dareus was named to the Pro Bowl in 2013 and 2014. He signed a six-year, $108 million contract extension in September of 2015.