The Philadelphia Eagles locked up a pair of defensive starters through the 2027 season, picking up the fifth-year options of defensive tackle Jalen Carter and outside linebacker Nolan Smith on Monday.

The team faced a Friday deadline on the options for the two Georgia products.

Carter, 25, was the ninth overall pick in the 2024 draft. A Pro Bowl honoree each of the past two years, Carter is in line to make $27 million in 2027.

Smith, 25, was also selected in the first round two years ago, No. 30 overall. He is in line to receive around $13.7 million in 2027.

Both players were key performers in the Eagles’ run to the 2024-25 Super Bowl championship, as Smith had four sacks in the playoff run and Carter recorded two.

Carter has 108 tackles, 13.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 13 passes defensed in 43 NFL games (27 starts). Last season, he logged 33 tackles, three sacks and a career-best seven passes defensed in 11 games, all starts, despite being slowed by shoulder injuries.

A triceps ailment limited Smith to 12 games, all starts, last year, and he had 31 tackles, three sacks and one fumble recovery. In 45 NFL games (22 starts), he has 91 tackles, 10.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two passes defensed.

–Field Level Media

Ty France knocked in four runs Monday night and Manny Machado doubled twice and singled before leaving the game as the San Diego Padres rallied for a 9-7 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs.

In winning its ninth straight home game, San Diego reached four Chicago pitchers for 14 hits. Machado scored three runs before departing after his sixth-inning at-bat, possibly due to a left leg injury.

Nick Castellanos gave the Padres a 6-5 lead in the fifth when he stroked a two-run single off reliever Ben Brown (1-1), scoring Machado and France. In the seventh, France bounced a two-run triple into the left field corner that plated Xander Bogaerts and Miguel Andujar.

Randy Vasquez (3-0) got the win despite allowing a season-high five runs on five hits in five innings, walking three and fanning four. Closer Mason Miller finished the game in a non-save situation, allowing two ninth-inning runs that ended his scoreless streak at 34 2/3 innings dating back to last season.

Cubs starter Matthew Boyd lasted just four-plus innings, leaving after Machado doubled to start the fifth. Boyd was charged with five runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out four.

Chicago has lost three in a row immediately after a 10-game winning streak. San Diego has won six of its past eight.

San Diego, which entered the night with just three first-inning runs in 27 games, doubled that total as Boyd struggled with his fastball command. In a frame that featured two walks, Jackson Merrill nicked him for an RBI single and France drilled a two-run ground-rule double.

Chicago answered using the long ball. Seiya Suzuki belted a solo shot to start the second, his fifth of the year, all in the past seven games. Then Moises Ballesteros cracked a grand slam with two outs in the third, his fifth of the year, to make it 5-3 Cubs.

The Padres pulled a run back in their half of the third when Andujar’s fielder’s-choice grounder scored Machado, who led off with a double.

San Diego capped its scoring in the eighth when Gavin Sheets, who replaced Machado in the cleanup spot, walloped a solo homer to right, his fourth of the year.

Suzuki and Dansby Swanson each bagged two of the Cubs’ eight hits.

–Field Level Media

Nikola Jokic recorded 27 points, 16 assists and 12 rebounds as the host Denver Nuggets stayed alive with a 125-113 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of a first-round Western Conference playoff series on Monday.

Jamal Murray scored 24 points, Spencer Jones posted a playoff career-high 20 points and Cameron Johnson finished with 18 for third-seeded Denver, which had lost three straight following a Game 1 home victory.

Game 6 in the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Minneapolis.

Both teams had key players missing Monday night. Anthony Edwards (knee) and Donte DiVincenzo (Achilles) were out for the sixth-seeded Timberwolves, and Ayo Dosunmu and Mike Conley started in their absences.

Dosunmu had 18 points after pouring in 43 on Saturday the Timberwolves’ Game 4 victory.

Julius Randle led Minnesota with 27 points and nine rebounds. Bones Hyland and Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 15 apiece. Jaden McDaniels, loudly booed whenever he possessed the ball, added 13 points, and Naz Reid contributed 12 points for the Timberwolves, who committed 25 turnovers.

Jones made his second career playoff start in place of Aaron Gordon (calf).

The Nuggets built a 10-point lead in the first quarter, but Minnesota cut it to 34-33 early in the second. Denver closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 60-51 lead into intermission, and then quickly expanded the advantage early in the third.

After the score was 63-54, Jones hit a trio of 3-pointers and a running dunk that made it 78-59 midway through the frame. The Timberwolves got within 82-67, but Murray and Tim Hardaway Jr. converted three-point plays, Johnson hit from deep and Christian Braun dunked to make it 95-72.

It was 106-84 before Minnesota made a push. Randle hit a hook shot, Dosunmu had a steal and a layup and Hyland made a layup to cut the gap to 13. After Jokic sank two free throws, Randle converted a three-point play and Reid’s jumper got the Timberwolves within 10.

Braun drained a trey, Murray dunked and Jokic had a layup that resulted in a three-point play, making it an 18-point game with 3:33 to go, and Denver closed it out.

–Field Level Media