In fact, the opposite of what you said is true. In the last gen franchises, Tom Brady, Terrelle Davis, and Deacon Jones would have probably never seen the field because their rookie rating would be too low. If they did see the field, they wouldn't have the attribute ratings to perform well, and they would have regressed (unless you made an effort to pad their stats which wouldn't reflect real life). This year there are many late round gems that can reflect the careers of those players.