Emmett Cleary could have kept playing. He felt healthy enough. He had a shot to be on the Detroit Lions' roster this season, and he loved playing football.
Yet last month, at age 27, Cleary walked away. Injuries or a lack of interest from teams didn’t retire Cleary; trading one childhood dream for another did.
Cleary had applied to the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in 2014 and was accepted in spring 2015 after his second NFL season. He deferred enrollment three times for football.
This offseason, he deliberated his future.