FRISCO, Texas — Following months of seismic shifts within the Dallas Cowboys' coaching staff and roster, the rubber officially meets the road for the first time during the Brian Schottenheimer era with the start of voluntary OTAs on Monday, April 14 at The Star in Frisco; and a list of players have already begun filing in — including Micah Parsons.
It's notable to mention Parsons' attendance for very obvious reasons, the biggest being his ongoing contract talks and the fact that, as stated, this portion of the offseason training program is indeed voluntary.
The three-time All-Pro pass rusher and record-setting linebacker made it clear in December that his intentions were to be present and accounted for — sentiments echoed by Schottenheimer by way of the Cowboys' new head coach stating his expectation that Parsons would follow through on his word; and he's done exactly that.
Others who have also been seen early on the first day include, but are not limited to, Dak Prescott, who continues to recover from a season-ending hamstring injury, DaRon Bland, KaVontae Turpin (newly-extended), Jake Ferguson, Cooper Beebe, Juanyeh Thomas and many others, including newly-signed defensive lineman Solomon Thomas.
This year's program begins one week after it was initially permissible by the NFL, as teams ushering in a new head coach were allowed to open their voluntary OTAs seven days ago.
Schottenheimer and his staff agreed to instead use the additional days to finish fine tuning their plans for the incoming players, an approach that makes sense when considering just how vastly the Cowboys overhauled their coaching staff in all three phases (offense, defense and special teams, too).
And, with that, the Schottenheimer era officially begins for players, and the team takes one major step toward an all-important training camp in July.
