That's another one of my fears man. I was testing to see what vets return to the game by simming through a year and saw Kurt Warner return to the Dolphins with #13....HA! Even a vet can't take another vets number. Kinda like the Lakers signing Steve Nash. The man is a legend ,but i'm sure he said no way he was going to take Wilt's #13 in L.A.
I know in my CCM modes i'm going to cringe whenever I see things like a #34 in Chicago, a #52 on the Ravens, a #7 in Denver or a #4 in Green Bay.
My only hope is a saw someone make the comment that the first Madden Ultimate team (I think it was in Madden 10 it was introduced) was actually brought in VIA a patch and wan't on the disc to begin with so in a sense EA could possibly give us player editing in CCM through a patch. I know in NBA 2k12 ,2k restricted the ability to trade legends to current teams ,but that was made possible through the Legends Showcase DLC. As greedy of EA as that would be, I would gladly pay for a DLC just to be able to edit players positions, numbers, and accesories.
If anything I just wish they would shed some light on why a feature that has pretty much been a given in Madden for years was left out this year for the so called "Greatest Madden to Date".