Why aren't there duplicate numbers?

[cmckinnon15]

I don't understand why you can't have an offensive and defensive player be the same number. It's annoying that I have to pick and choose what players get what numbers.

[kabbey520]

+1. I don't see what the issue is. This has been a complaint for a long time that has gone unnoticed by EA.

[Dr Death]

I wish we had the option of giving a player the # 00 as well.

[ram29jackson]

I believe in teambuilder you can give everyone the same number if you wanted to

[JeffHCross]

I believe in teambuilder you can give everyone the same number if you wanted toThis is true, though it shouldn't take Teambuilder to do it ... nor is Teambuilder an acceptable workaround (since that only works for the initial roster of your Teambuilder team).

As to the question of "why can't you do it" -- I'd imagine it's just never been high enough on the priority list to change. I can't speak for EA, but at my work a lot of "little fixes" get bumped aside and have to wait because of time/resources/risk to create bugs/etc. For example, I imagine they'd have to extensively check/re-work the logic that automatically assigns a number for the new recruits (especially on a CPU team) to avoid the possibility that a team ends up with everyone having the same number.