Obviously they've proved themselves this year and deserve the deals but lets be serious, all wages are competitive. Ben White has interest from elsewhere and to satisfy his contract demands, you'd accordingly need to satisfy similar players that you also value.
Aaron Connolly had 2 years left...
Could this be to match the terms that Ben White is going to be offered? You'd presume that, as first team squad members, they'd want to be on at least similar terms to someone with 0 Premier League games under his belt.