Just being checking through the contracts given out to first round picks and they are all extremely high. In the draft I looked at it went:

1st pick: $9.76m
2nd Pick: $9.31
4th Pick: $8.4m
13th Pick: $5.91
19th Pick: $4.47
20th: $4.28

Those wages seem very high given the default financial settings. It also doesn't reflect the advantage of getting draftees for a club's wage cap juggling. For example, in the last draft the estimated 4 year contract for Joe Burrows was $36.1 for 4 years, so $9.025 per year. In comparison, Stafford's average yearly contract is $27m, Carr's $25m (same as Brady), while Mahomes is a massive $45m per season. So Burrows yearly salary is nearly 1/3rd of a QB like Carr (2.7 is the actual divisor), and a whopping 5th the size of Mahomes' contract per year.

In game terms, if we presume a high paid player in the game is, say $8m (though many of the top QBs in my game have current $10m contracts), then the number 1 pick in the draft should have a maximum salary of around of around $3m, not the current $9.76m!

Is there a way of changing what the salaries are for draft picks, beyond just changing the maximum draftee contract number? My slight worry about just changing the maximum (say setting it at $3m), is that it will just make all first round draft picks probably have a contract of $3m, whether drafted 1st or 20th. Not sure if that really matters in the big scheme of things, but was wondering if it is possible to set the individual draft pick salary numbers somehow.

They're slotted, so whatever you set the max to is kind of what the #1 pick will sign for and then it drops from there (somewhat altered by position). The "Default" settings are not specifically tied to anything related to real NFL settings... so comparing numbers from the game to numbers in real life won't work.

That is good to know that it will work down from what you set the maximum at.

I also realize the financial numbers are not tied to real life. However, it seems a shame to have the draftee salaries work in such a way that it makes it impossible to build teams like they do in real life i.e. the advantage of your draftees is that they cost far less than established players of the same level, and so teams can use the draft to cut wage bills in a way the current default does not allow.