If a new collective bargaining agreement isn't in place by March 4 and there is an NFL lockout, quite a few things will go away. Signing free agents, for example, will not be permitted with no CBA in place. Also, players set to become free agents will be stuck, as they can't sign a new deal until a new CBA is agreed to.
One of the other big downsides to a lockout is that players won't be able to do participate in offseason workouts with their teams, and injured players like Jason Hanson will not be able to continue their rehab at their team's facility.
"The lockout will be very strange because it's really -- I don't think I can have anything to do with the Lions and they can't have anything to do with me," Hanson said. "So, yeah, I have to go to Plan B."
And what's Plan B?
"My wife better be good at icing my knee," Hanson joked. "I don't think she wants any part of that."
Hanson hurt his knee against the New York Jets last November and has been rehabbing ever since. He has yet to start kicking and said he will only consider resuming football activities when he is 110 percent healthy. That is definitely a good idea, but one has to wonder if his road to recovery will take a bit of a detour if a lockout happens and he can't rehab at the Lions' facility. I'm sure arrangements can be made to limit the problems a lockout causes with his rehab, but it's definitely an unnecessary headache for all involved.