Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Wortham attended Everman High School, where he practiced football and track.
Although he entered spring practices with a leg injury he suffered at an All-Star high school game, he was able to earn the starter position at middle linebacker, leading the team with 129 tackles and a career-high 6 sacks.
In 1996, he became the starter at middle linebacker after Smith suffered a season-ending quadriceps injury in the first game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
[5] Following the signing of Randall Godfrey in free agency and the drafting of Keith Bullock, Wortham became expendable and was released on April 26, 2000.
In 2000, the Dallas Cowboys had a lot of turnover at the linebacker position and one of the moves made to improve the depth was the signing of Wortham in free agency on May 4.
[6] He was limited during the preseason, after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee in the second week of training camp.
Dat Nguyen suffered a left knee sprain in the second contest of the season and Wortham replaced him at middle linebacker.