Which is really kind of odd given the types of teams they play with. You'd think that with all the types of legends and different players they play with that both sides would want that. If you're EA I think it'd be a good look to turn that on and see Barry Sanders be instantly recognizable and actually looking like Barry Sanders rather then everybody more or less looking and acting the same. Then as a competitive player I'd think you'd want to also have that differentiation between players instead of Barry Sanders' 95 juke looking and working exactly like Bo Jackson's 95 juke. I think they're on the right path with the tiers but it's just too overly simplistic and universal where it's not really based on the player so much as it is on an attribute threshold.
Definitely with you on the personalities though, so many guys have unique things they do whether it be sack celebration, first down celebration, or whatever and that's the type of stuff that is a really little thing but goes a long way. One of the coolest things about the Xbox/PS2 Madden's was having Dante Hall throw up the X when he scored and Priest Holmes doing his touchdown celebration and they still have that to a certain extent now like with Cam but it seems like with as much personality as there is now there should be a lot more uniqueness instead of 90% of the league doing the Bernie after sacks and first downs.
As for the special abilities though I think they're trying to do that with attributes which I think is the right move. Whenever I think special abilities I think of like the hot spot from NBA Jam or whatever and it just comes with an overall arcade stigma to me. I'd just worry how it would be implemented and that it would be overdone to the point where it would be arcade but I think they could definitely have a place if done right.