That is really not "stretching the ratings". Actually, if you are doing that just for players 95 overall and better then that would be compressing the ratings. you would then be changing the range from like 70-99 (a 30 point range) to 70-96 (a 27 point range).
My system when I spread the ratings, probably much more drastic than what EA did, was as follows:
99 = 99
98 = 97
97 = 95
96 = 93
95 = 91
94 = 89
etc
on down to
55 = 11
54 = 9
53 = 7
52 = 5
51 = 3
50 = 1
<50 = 0
For injury and toughness I lowered the rating by half that factor because I didn't want injuries to run rampant as I wasn't trying for a full season or anything, just testing gameplay.
For speed for QBs I lowered it by half the normal factor. Then if the resulting rating was in the 90s I lowered it by another 1, 80s another 2, 70s another 3 etc. This was due to lowering it by the normal factor really effected the QB drops way too much. If you don't believe this try lowering your QBs speed to like 5 and try to drop back with him. See how long it takes to get even 5 yards behind the LOS. The extra little reductions was just to keep speed QBs from being too overpowered being too fast.
Accuracy I reduced by twice the normal factor which really led to a very noticable difference in QB accuracies.
The effects to the overall rating were definitely too drastic for EA to actually allow in their release of the game. They would have to change the formula with which overalls are figured for sure. The highest rated FB after these drops was like a 20 overall. TEs were also hit very hard, I think dallas clark for example was like mid 40s. He was however extremely effective as he was always getting open against slower LBs or LBs who just couldn't cover his route running.