I have no confidence at all that Madden's Franchise Mode will get back to Madden 2005-2007 XBOX/PS2 era any time soon. The things that game was doing was pretty advanced for what Madden has now, especially on the player personality front. Madden 12? Sure. I liked that Franchise Mode, but it wasn't anything extraordinary (and also had a glitch that never got fixed where rookies would generate with mutated shoulders, even if imported from NCAA). I loved Madden 12, but it's not a high benchmark.
NBA 2K's franchise
modes are great. Absolutely astonishing what they do. I remember when that blog hit for 2K16 where they talked about all the things they were finally given the greenlight to do, and I just kept wishing I was reading a Madden blog, instead. (not a big basketball fan)
I agree with the MLB: The Show assessment. Everyone praises it a lot, but I feel like some of those people haven't even played it and are just going based off what they've heard. It's a very stale mode that has the same issue that Madden currently has: it's pretty lifeless. Although, at least that game has a radio show that keeps you in the loop. It's not amazingly executed, though. It's got a cool Trade Finder feature, which helps a lot, and it can go pretty "inside baseball" (finally used that term for baseball)
At this point, I think folks like myself are probably hoping for too much to even think that Madden 19 will be the year Franchise gets a strong creative effort. Maybe Madden 20 is even hoping for too much...