Former Lions OT Cleary to attend medical school

Former Detroit Lions offensive tackle Emmett Cleary announced his plans to attend medical school, one month after retiring from the NFL. Cleary told ESPN that he was well aware that he'd be fighting for a roster spot and wanted more out of his future. "It's a tough league, and most guys don't get to (walk away on their own) for whatever reason," the 28-year-old Cleary said. "But let's not ... I'm not Jason Witten here. I've been a fringe player for years and years and years. I've been cut plenty of times. Yeah, the league was going to be done with me at some point, so I'm not too hung up on the way it ended. I hope Joe Thomas got a little more press than me this offseason. That's truly walking away on your own terms. I'm on the minimum." Cleary, who would have made $705,000 this season with the Lions, plans to start medical school at USC in the fall after deferring enrollment three times for football. Currently, he's working as a research assistant and data analyst studying physical therapy and brain function. After Detroit's 2017 season ended in January, Cleary reached out to team doctors as well as Chris Nowinski, the co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. Last year, Cleary agreed to donate his brain postmortem to Nowinski's foundation for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) research. Cleary appeared in seven games, making one start, in 2017 in his lone season with the Lions. He appeared in a career-high 13 games with the Dallas Cowboys in 2016 and started one game. The former Boston College product, who was born in Japan, also was on the rosters of the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014 and New York Giants in 2015, but never saw the field.