April 14th marks the start of a new era in the Dallas Cowboys. After missing out on the postseason, the Cowboys chose to move on from Mike McCarthy. While they flirted with a lot of names out there, including Cowboys legend Deion Sanders, none made the final cut. Instead, Jerry Jones chose Brian Schottenheimer, internally promoting him from offensive coordinator to head coach. Surely, it raised a lot of eyebrows, considering Schottenheimer doesn’t have any prior head coaching experience. However, it’s time to get past those question marks. As the Cowboys kicked off their offseason workout programs on Monday, the players were treated with a nasty surprise.

Cowboys’ official Instagram handle shared a reel where one of their staff was waiting outside their facility with a gift. What kind of gift? Any guesses? To break it down, none of you could probably have guessed the gift the Cowboys had in waiting. Their caption of the reel said it all: “the early ‘boy gets the worm’ 🪱.” Worm? Yep, the Cowboys treated their players with a ‘worm embrace’ as they started preparing for their new season.

Dak Prescott was the first one to arrive, but he didn’t even dare to come near them as he said, “Give it to the second one.” But none of them after Prescott were too pleased seeing worms wrangling in front of them. Some did touch and see whether they were real. However, they were all scared to hold it even for 2 seconds. After fans saw the Cowboys seemingly scared to even come near the worms, they hilariously started calling them out. “Most of em ain’t never been fishing 😂” one of the fans wrote in the comments. I mean, really, you need worms to go for a fishing trip. Or else how can you expect to catch a fish when it’s already tough to catch one with worms?

But it seems Schottenheimer’s boys aren’t fishing enthusiasts. But, hey! The Cowboys had another surprise. And believe me, this was pleasant. Besides the live worms, the Cowboys also had a can of worms like candies. Those who came late were treated with candies while the earlier ones only got worms. Umm! Don’t you guess it was supposed to be the other way? But I guess it’s Schottenheimer’s way of welcoming his players to start a new era, and hopefully a successful one in Dallas.

While the focus was obviously on the worms, the Cowboys Nation can breathe a sigh of relief for now. Their star linebacker, Micah Parsons, who was predicted to skip the voluntary workout program, was surprisingly present.

Micah Parsons’ attendance at the Cowboys facility shuts down rumors of him holding out

Parsons is entering the fifth year of his rookie contract, which is set to earn him $24M. While the anticipation is that the Cowboys will sooner or later make him the highest-paid non-QB in the NFL, the deal hasn’t come yet. See, Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones stated that there’s no urgency in getting Parsons extended for now. So, Parsons’ willingness to shut any noises of discrepancies between him and the Cowboys by attending their offseason workout programs only underscores his commitment.

Judging by the past few off-seasons where Parsons has preferred to work out on his own; him being present on day 1 of Brian Schottenheimer’s era shows he is all in. He even showed up early, as you can see from the worm video the Cowboys shared on their Instagram page. So, it might just be a matter of time before the Cowboys give Parsons the deal he deserves. After missing the first 4 games last season, Parsons came to record 12 sacks and 43 tackles. Those numbers helped him to join an exclusive club consisting only of NFL legends.

Micah Parsons was the 4th player ever to record at least 10 sacks in his first 4 seasons in the NFL. He joins the likes of Hall of Famers Dwight Freeney, Derrick Thomas, and Reggie White. Parsons is doing what he’s supposed to do. As for the Cowboys, they also need to do the needful. Otherwise, these early smiles might turn into regret in the coming months.