It’s time to meet two new cats of Fantasy Twitter – Fred and Bella!
The Cat(s)
Fred and Bella were part of a coworker’s litter from which Peter (@PeterPeterra) chose his two cats. Bella, pictured below, is the indoor cat of this dynamic duo. She doesn’t mind long road trips in the car. Fred, pictured above, is a comedian and daredevil.
While both have been guilty of taking a dump in the bath, there’s a clear ring leader. In my conversation with Peter, he strongly implied that Fred shits in the bath more often. And likely gets a kick out of it.
Fred is most definitely not an indoor cat. He often ventures into busy traffic to play in farmland. Sometimes, he accidentally gets locked in the neighbor’s shed or garage. Sometimes he even ends up on the roof somehow. Fred is always getting into trouble.
Fred is an outdoor cat who loves to explore, but why is that? Why do our furry little friends feel the need to leave their safe, pampered home and venture into the cruel and unforgiving world in search of adventure and shenanigans? Let’s find out.
Natural Explorers
Cats are genetically descended from carnivores like lions, and that genetic imprint is still buried deep within their brains. They are born natural hunters, and that urge to stalk, hunt, and attack is part of who they are. The target may have changed from a wild gazelle to a laser pointer over the centuries, but the urge to engage in that behavior remains.
Cats enjoy exploring their domain and hunting to a certain extent. However, the main reason for this otherwise unnecessary exploration is to gain sensory information. All cats have an excellent sense of hearing and smell with a talent for detecting movement in low light. Their whiskers allow their sense of touch to be exponentially more accurate than ours.
By exploring their environment, they are gathering information using these “kitty sensors.” These sensors tell them if there are other competing cats in the area or other potential threats or changes to their environment.
Animal Magnetism
There is a theory that cats can even detect the Earth’s magnetic field. This is why people think they can wander far from home and find their way back easier than other animals. With all these amazing sensory organs, it makes sense that our little critters want to flex those muscles and use their talents to the fullest.
As for the getting stuck on the neighbor’s roof, or the many stories we see about cats being stuck in trees, there’s a scientific explanation for that. Cats will naturally seek a high vantage point to give themselves a better view of their surroundings. This is an advantage for them both as hunters and for checking for potential dangers.
Unfortunately for Fred, this likely led to his misadventure with the neighbor’s roof. At least now we know why he did it.
Luxury Time
As for Bella, there is also a perfectly logical and scientific explanation why she prefers NOT to go outdoors and explore. All cats prefer to be warm, and the ideal temperature for a cat is typically 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, I’ve read that 75 degrees is usually the magic number.
All cats also prefer to be dry. The internet is flooded with videos of cats falling into water and then freaking out. This is why cold and wet are the last two things your cat wants to endure on this planet. Cats also have their own personality quirks. In all likelihood, Bella is perfectly fine with letting Fred do the exploring for both of them.
There was also a third cat many moons ago, Chuckie. Sadly, he has been missing for some time now. The leading theory is that Chuckie wandered into a neighbor’s house and started a new life there since cats tend to command the humans they come in contact with. Wherever he is, we wish him well.
Peter has been an awesome cat dad for many years now and is welcomed into cat society by his little critters. For that, we salute him and wish him good luck in this year’s cat league.
Bella looking down upon her human servants
The Draft
The scoring and other league settings were a clone of the IDP invitational settings. The custom graphics were created by @natecheat of idpguys.org.
As mentioned previously, this was a Superflex start-up with full IDP. This includes corners, defensive tackles, and individual positions with DT and TE premium. We increased the number of corners and decreased the number of safeties to increase difficulty.
With that in mind, Peter’s strategy was to punt on defensive ends since we were using true position. With the positions correct, the result is that all the pass rush outside linebackers now become defensive ends. Also, the positional scarcity for defensive end becomes a thing of the past.
The vast majority of us picked up on this and adjusted accordingly, just like Peter did. He also punted on defensive backs since they’re a dime a dozen. DBs can be found easily towards the end of the draft or on waivers during the season.
Where he focused his draft capital on was defensive tackle and a tight end. Peter opted to take Cameron Heyward (DT) and Dalton Schultz (TE) along with Cole Kmet (TE). Having secured absolute studs at the “premium” positions, he then made sure to draft plenty of solid quarterbacks. After all, this IS Superflex.
With this league being DT premium Peter knew the value and positional scarcity of the position and made sure to land a stud with Cameron Heyward
Offense
Tom Brady (QB), Matt Stafford (QB), and Zach “cougar lover” Wilson (QB) were quite the haul, with two super bowl winning quarterbacks guaranteed to throw for a ton of yards and touchdowns on their dynamic offenses plus a young up and coming Jets quarterback as a backup or bye week option.
As for running back options, Peter ended up with Cam Akers (RB), Antonio Gibson (RB), and Kareem Hunt (RB), along with some backups. Not bad at all. At wide receiver, he took Rashod Bateman (WR) and Gabriel Davis (WR) along with Ceedee Lamb (WR) and DeVonta Smith (WR).
This young receiving corps has upside written all over it, and this offense has plenty of stars and depth all around. Let’s have a look at what he did with his IDP selections.
Matt Stafford completes the comeback in the super bowl
IDP
Over on the defensive side of things, Peter ended up with Aidan Hutchinson (DE), Chase Young (DE), and Emmanuel Ogbah (DE) at defensive end, so despite waiting on this position, he still ended up with a ton of excellent options, true position really does flip that traditional positional scarcity on its head.
We’ve already mentioned his top three options of Cameron Heyward (DT). The defensive tackle premium is sure to make Mr. Heyward’s yearly production even more ridiculous in a league like this. At linebacker, he ended up with Roquan Smith (LB), Matt Milano (LB), and Shaq Thompson (LB).
All of those gentlemen are guaranteed a ton of snaps and are considered three-down linebackers, and with the recent news that Roquan Smith (LB) will play out the remainder of his Bears contract, that pick has gone from iffy to incredible in just a couple short weeks.
At defensive backs, we’ve got Kyle Hamilton (S), Tracy Walker (S), and Patrick Surtain (CB) with the draft still in the last few rounds, so surely Peter will add some depth there and wrap up this beautifully created team. He did mention having some concerns about his wide receivers, but I think they look pretty good.
Overall, this team looks excellent, and the strategy employed was clearly from the mind of someone who has done this before. Targeting the “premium” positions, ensuring that all-important backup QB in Superflex, and getting those increasingly rare three-down linebackers has put Peter in a position to compete immediately and have the depth and staying power to stay competitive all season long. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.
And with that, the Cats of Fantasy Twitter article series has launched another entry. We’ll be back with another cat and, to a far lesser extent, their owner very soon. I expect to have all of these published before the first regular season game, so they’ll come out as I finish them. There is no schedule beyond that. I hope you enjoyed reading!
Thank you to @PeterPeterra for providing the pictures and information about his cat, his take on his draft, and for participating not only in the league but this entire ridiculous experiment and process for the last several months. Your cats are now famous my friend. Keep an eye out for the next article in this series as we cover all the cats from the cat league…and their owners’ fantasy football draft strategies. Until next time.
