Let's meet the stars of the final article in the Cats of Fantasy Twitter series — Snoot, Salvador, Dahlia, Olive, Henneson, and Cleopatra!
The Cats
With six total cats, Derek (@DynastyDentist) holds the claim to fame of owning the most cats in our cat league. No memes this time. I need the picture space to get all these little guys in! For the first time in this series, Derek submitted his own words that I'm going to share here directly, he can tell us about his little critters better than I ever could.
Let's have him start us off here and we'll see if anything sticks out that we can follow up on for our cat psychology or physiology segment. Derek focuses on Salvador and Dahlia, pictured below, but has a crazy household filled with six of these little demons.
Salvador and Dalia as kittens
"Salvador and Dahlia came into our lives just before Halloween, 2019. My wife and I had been discussing getting two boys to go with our two current females (one each from when we were both single). Full of hope and excitement about meeting our two future sons, we headed to the SPCA.
Like so often in life, things quickly went astray as we were not able to find two brothers that we bonded with. Instead, two energetic little fluffballs struck our eye as we searched, and we decided to take a quick break for some fun pets. We encountered a brother and sister, the sister trotted up to my arms, and the brother, to my wife’s.
As has been the trend throughout their lives, they instantly started purring. Those cats chose us at that moment, and we have never looked back. A few years back, we got a DNA test on the brother (Basepaws has deals during Mother's and Father's day). They are a true mix, but mainly Ragdoll/Maine Coon. We own six cats, and my wife and I often say that these two are the most beautiful, regal long hairs that have come to be the anchors of our home." (@DynastyDentist)
Salvador and Dalia as newborns
"The two siblings could not be further apart in personality. This is never more apparent than when they need to visit the vet. Dahlia prances and struts about (our vet jokes that she invented the catwalk), and indeed her hips sway with such force you wonder how she moves straight.
Salvador spends his time at the vet glued to the wall, trying to be as small as possible and not be noticed. Where Dahlia is eternally brave, Salvador hides whenever anyone comes to the door (his favorite spot is under the bed). Salvador has always loved meeting our new additions or various foster kittens and is the most loved cat in the house amongst the felines.
Dahlia is very aloof but always lets you know when she wants affection. She gets along with her two younger sisters and is often running through the house after them. Salvador doesn’t play much but has a favorite toy ball which we refer to as “his wife”.
Salvador’s day will often start trying to sort out where he left her the night before, he will wander around looking for this small yellow ball and meow if it's somewhere he is unable to reach (we are sure he puts it in those places on purpose, “the wife garage”).
Dahlia showed how much she cared for her brother when he had to spend three nights at the vet with a Bartonella infection. Typically, an ice queen, Dahlia moped around the house until he returned, but in typical fashion, just gave him a little flick of her tail in acknowledgment." (@DynastyDentist)
That was a beautiful description of the two most noteworthy of the many critters running around Derek's house. I think we've just about exhausted our topics for cat psychology and physiology, so I'll just give you all some more pictures of the cats, and we'll get into the football.
This is the tenth and final article in this series. Thank you, everyone, that read these. To all who participated, I am truly grateful. My hair-brained idea has been executed, and our cats are now eternally famous on the internet. Derek is a great cat dad, and his collection of little monsters welcomes him to cat society. We wish him luck in this year's cat league.
The Draft
Derek managed to get the 1.01 of Superflex quarterbacks
Offense
With Josh Allen (QB) and Derek Carr (QB), Derek managed to grab an excellent tandem for his Superflex quarterbacks and is looking good there. At running back, he got Dalvin Cook (RB), Travis Etienne (RB), Alvin Kamara (RB), James Conner (RB), and Leonard Fournette (RB) for easily the best running back stable in the league, hands down.
He has the best depth and talent at this position, heads, and tails above everyone else. For wide receivers, he got Alan Lazard (WR), DeAndre Hopkins (WR), Brandin Cooks (WR), Amari Cooper (WR), and Jahan Dotson (WR) for another excellent group of players.
With Hopkins coming off suspension right around the time bye weeks start, combined with the natural injury rate of modern fantasy leagues, this reinforcement could be a game-changer for him. His options at tight end were Dallas Goedert (TE) and Albert Okwuegbunam (TE), which are both stellar as well. He really leaned into his offensive knowledge and probably has the best offense in the league.
Justin Simmons, the model of consistency and reliability, anchors this defense
IDP
Despite claiming not to be an IDP expert, this defense looks pretty solid! For his defensive tackle premium options, he ended up with Christian Barmore (DT) and Javon Hargrave (DT) for a nice mix of a sleeper with a huge year written all over him and a veteran coming off a career season last year.
At defensive end, Derek landed some great value with DeMarcus Lawrence (DE), Matt Judon (DE), Greg Rousseau (DE), and Marcus Davenport (DE). That's another great mix of solid veterans and young talent with breakout season potential.
For linebacker, the position Derek mentioned may be weak in his mind. He acquired Demario Davis (LB) and Devine Deablo (LB) for a locked and loaded three-down veteran and an up-and-coming Raiders option that looks to have stepped into a three-down role as well.
He was also able to get Kyzir White (LB), who looks to have secured a starting job and Kamu Grugier Hill (LB) who may have one as well, the Texans linebacker situation is a bit messy but with injury rates what they are these days odds are good he'll get some value there as well at some point this season.
For safety, Derek took Justin Simmons (S), Logan Ryan (S) and Vonn Bell (S) which is a completely solid group, Simmons hasn't missed a snap since the Carter administration and the other two are veteran producers locked into solid roles as well.
For corner, Derek got Marcus Peters (CB) and Anthony Brown (CB) which are two of my favorite options this season and took a bit of a dart throw with DJ Reed (CB) who could end up seeing a ton of time on the field if he holds down that starting job on the Jets. This looks to be a well-rounded IDP defense with many good pieces.
Conclusion
Derek used his vast experience with offensive fantasy leagues to crush that side of his draft and despite having some reservations about his IDP defense I for one believe it came out very nice indeed. He has a great mix of depth at positions like running back where the scarcity is ridiculous and with Josh Allen (QB) leading the way the sky is the limit.
This team looks to be very competitive and has the staying power at those hard to find positions to last the season.
Thank you for reading this entry in the Cats of Fantasy Twitter article series! A special thank you to @DynastyDentist for joining me on this insane journey. Make sure you go check out his work and we wish him luck in this years cat league.
This has been the final installment in this series. I'm sure I'll come up with something equally insane next offseason, but for now, we're back to the regular season and my weekly cornerback content and podcasts. Good luck this year to all!
