I was basically gonna say this. You're absolutely right.
I'm not putting down your idea, OP. It's just that it won't sell. We've seen it before. If 2K was confident it would sell they would have done this a long time ago.
After APF they knew they couldn't compete. We here who want these types of games are the minority. Madden is a cultural phenomenon, it has been part of the worlds zeitgeist forever. Most Madden sales come from casual gamers not hard core football guys/gals.
I don't know the exact numbers, but after APF was released, it took two weeks on the shelves to hit 75,000 units sold. While NCAA 08, which released at about the same time, sold into the millions over a short span. And that game was terrible.