Big Decisions come to you with the right information at the right time. Do you start your star QB with that lingering injury, or go to your unproven back-up with a playoff spot on the line? In Madden NFL 17, Big Decisions begin a new direction in your career mode experience changing the way you approach your gameplay strategy for every match up.
Big Decisions: Season Goal
The first big decision you’ll make as a coach or player in the regular season is to set your season goal.  As a coach, you can decide whether you are going to make the playoffs or shoot low with a 7-win season.  The choice you make has an impact since if you miss your season goal, you have a chance of getting fired, but the harder the goal then the higher the experience point gain will be.
Big Decisions: Injuries
Once doctors have medically cleared a player that was hurt earlier in the season, you can either play him with a lingering injury or sit him to heal to 100%. Â If your player plays a game with a lingering injury, then he has a higher chance of becoming reinjured, which could completely wreck the rest of your season. Â If you go with your back-up, he will earn extra XP that will help him with long-term development.
While in-game, you’ll see new presentation banners that highlight your injured players.  You will even see a “with and without” comparison banner showing how your team did the last few weeks with your back-up QB compared to your regular starter.
Big Decisions: Acquisitions
Picking up free agents and players on the trade block is easier than ever with the new Acquisitions menu. Â You will be able to easily browse the available players by position and compare them to your current depth chart. Â Improve your weakest positions quickly by using the position grades that are right at your fingertips. Â Expect the commentators during the game to call out recently acquired players when they make big plays.
Big Decisions: Re-Signing
When your players are on the last year of their contract, you can now re-sign them using a more intuitive menu.  All the information you need to decide if you want to retain the player is available.  The more prominent players will be open to negotiations earlier in the season, with the lower rated players available to sign late in the season after they’ve had a chance to prove themselves on the field.  It’s up to you to decide how aggressive you want to be when offering a contract, but giving a contract that is too low carries the risk that they may reject your team and opt to test the free agent market instead.  As you persuade your players to re-sign, the commentary team will take notice and mention it during the game.
Big Decision: Spending XP
Your players progress through the season as they earn experience points (XP) from training and by completing weekly game goals, drive goals, fantasy goals, season goals, and career goals. Â You will be able to easily spend this XP to upgrade ratings and traits at the end of each game. Â Quickly see who earned the most XP on the defensive and offensive side. Â When there are at least three key position specific ratings available to upgrade, the player will show up in the Recommended list where you will be able to easily choose which rating to upgrade.
When playing as a coach, you will see a breakdown of all the XP you earned that week, too. Â You can easily see if you have an upgrade available and quickly take action.
Big Decisions: Cutting Players
During the preseason, you will now be presented with a new menu layout where your coaches will recommend players to cut based on position depth and player skills. Â This allows you to make key decisions about player retention quickly so you can progress through the preseason.
Big Decisions: Free Agent Bidding
While bidding for players in the off-season, you will now be able to easily see your depth chart at the various positions so you know who to bid on. Â Additionally, you will get feedback on how the player views your contract so you can adjust it to have a better chance of landing him. Â Top rated Free Agents will now regularly sign quickly so you can spend the later stages battling over the next tier of players. Â This better emulates real-life, where the top free agents move off the board quickly.
