FRISCO, Texas — The NFL calendar is speeding right along this offseason, and the next round of key dates involve the Dallas Cowboys firing up their three-day mandatory minicamp at the team's headquarters in North Texas, as Brian Schottenheimer takes one major step closer toward training camp and his first-ever season as a head coach.
His approach, to this point, has gone over exceptionally well within the front office, the locker room and even the fanbase — everyone buying in and hoping the culture shift and sweeping changes within the coaching staff translate to wins on the field in 2025; and the presence of Micah Parsons can only help the cause.
The three-time All-Pro pass rusher found himself on the receiving end of a special message ahead of minicamp, having phoned Schottenheimer as "good night" trend on TikTok, of course being an offseason headliner due to his ongoing contract negotiations.
"I know this is weird for everybody, but look, you're handling everything the right way bro," Schottenheimer told Parsons. "This thing is going to get worked out."
Parsons was present and accounted for in the very beginning of the offseason program but absent during voluntary OTAs, making it exceedingly clear he’d be in the building for minicamp this week.
"I will be there!" he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). "I haven't missed a camp in four years! Even though the contract is not done, I have teammates and a playbook! I'm preparing as if I will be on the field the first week of camp!"
In April, the four-time Pro Bowler echoed his previous plan to be in Oxnard as well for training camp.
"I'll still be around," he said. "For me, I've still gotta learn a playbook and I'm not so much of an iPad person where I can just keep learning. I've gotta walk through it. Maybe it's so much I might not be on the field part of it, but I'll be there learning, so that way I'm at least getting prepared to be ready for Week 1."
Despite the additions both within the coaching staff, e.g., Matt Eberflus returning to take on the role of defensive coordinator, or inside the locker room, the Cowboys' defense will go as Parsons does.
"We're building something special and you're going to be a huge part of it," said Schottenheimer to Parsons in the TikTok call.
That said, it's been an unusually active offseason for the Cowboys, including trading for wide receiver George Pickens, a highlight machine, to play in tandem with record-setting wideout CeeDee Lamb for All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott, as Schottenheimer puts his fingerprints on the organization early and often.
"I'm just thrilled to see where we take this thing," Schottenheimer added in the aforementioned good night call.
So while Parsons was calling to lovingly bid his new head coach a good night, he was instead and effectively met with a message rooted in the Cowboys' hope of the 2025 season becoming the definition of a good morning — to jump start the era of Schottenheimer.
