All of my players salaries increased too. Although, not by huge amounts.
My guess, I think there is some sort of balancing process in the salary function. So that the topX% based on some criteria fit in certain range and so on through the whole population. I think because the high priced retired players are no longer going to the market the overall pool is getting weaker. this means the top X% isn't as good as before but still needs to fit into a certain salary range, so on average everyone is paid more.
Not sure if I articulated that well.......