During the NFL lockout last spring, ThePostGame revealed that players from at least 16 teams had sought out extremely aggressive short-term loans with high interest rates.

Ravens offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie was among those with a so-called lockout loan, and he now may owe $4.5 million, according to legal records cited by the Baltimore Business Journal and TMZ.

The original loan amount was roughly $4.2 million, the Business Journal reported, and McKinnie also had a second loan, taken out in July 2011, for $229,000.

The loans were from a firm called Pro Player Funding, and the first contained a clause stipulating the entire amount becomes due immediately if McKinnie missed a single payment, TMZ reported. The missed payment is alleged to have occurred in August 2011 after the Vikings released McKinnie.

TMZ said court documents showed that McKinnie had scheduled his paychecks from the Vikings to go directly Pro Player Funding, but didn't change that setup after being cut. That led to Pro Player Funding going to court against him to collect.

But the Business Journal also reported that McKinnie has filed a counterclaim against Pro Player Funding, asserting the company never actually advanced him the full amount of the loan. It also said the Ravens have agreed with the player and the company to garnish McKinnie's future wages and place them in an escrow fund while the legal issues are sorted out.

A legal representative for McKinnie, C. Kevin Kobbe, declined comment Thursday, citing that "the matter is subject to pending litigation."

In ThePostGame's report last year, Cardinals kicker and NFLPA representative Jay Feely was critical of these loans.

"I think it's predatory and unjust," Feely said at the time. "I don't think they should be charging those interest rates and I would encourage every player [considering high-risk loans] to look elsewhere. I think if you went to your bank, or outside lending agencies, you're not going to pay that kind of interest. That's absurd."

But Darien Dash, an executive with Pro Player Funding, told ThePostGame: "Nobody's out here forcing these guys to do this -- in terms of putting the gun to their head and making them do it."

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