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The Mayor of Boston is also standing by his star QB -- basically saying Wells Report investigators did a crappy job ... and maintaining that his Patriots won the Super Bowl "fair and square."

Mayor Martin L. Walsh -- a hardcore Pats fan -- took on the issue last night ... calling the report "vague" and saying it returned no real "concrete answers" about Tom Brady's involvement in Deflategate.

"Usually when you have an investigation you come back with some concrete answers, 'This is what was known, this is how we did it.' It seems like somebody's stretching something."

He continued, "I don't know if the NFL is stretching their report and they don't have any facts and they're just trying to make it look bad for the Patriots or the Patriots haven't responded properly."

They could be the hottest collector's items in the world of sports ... the balls from the Deflategate scandal ... and according to the guys from "Hardcore Pawn," they could make someone VERY rich!

TMZ Sports spoke with Les Gold and his son Seth ... who told us they believe collectors would pay AT LEAST 5-figures for the pigskins ... as long as the seller could prove they were authentic.

Former LSU football star La'el Collins will get a $21,000 signing bonus ... after signing a free agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys ... TMZ Sports has learned.

We're told he's set to make $435k in his 1st year, $545k his second year and $656k in year 3.

Our sources tell us ... when all is said and done, Collins will get the same dollar amount as the 7th pick of the 2nd round of the NFL Draft.

Of course, La'el's draft stock plummeted after he was questioned by police in the shooting death of a pregnant woman. Before the incident, he was projected to be a 1st round draft pick.

Tom Brady's high school still has the QB's back -- telling TMZ Sports he's NOT a bad guy ... and they're praying for his family in the wake of Deflategate.

We spoke with the people at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, California -- where he was a 3-sport superstar before he graduated in 1995 ... and they all say the "real" Tom Brady is a caring and generous person ... not the cheater the Wells Report has made him out to be.

In fact, Serra President Lars Lund tells us ... "The Brady's are an important part of our community, and we will keep them in our thoughts and prayers as they move forward through this difficult time."

Retired Serra Chaplain Fr. Joe Bradley -- who has known the Brady family for years -- added, "I have great respect for Tom and his entire family. He has a generous spirit and a caring heart. His willingness to reach out to the Padre community is legendary, but always offered with joy and humility."

Tom Brady's agent is calling B.S. on the Wells Report -- claiming it paints the star QB as a cheater ... without any real significant proof.

Brady's agent Don Yee just came out swingin' ... saying the entire investigation was not only flawed, but carried out by people who have a "limited understanding of professional football."

In a statement, Yee says ... "The Wells report, with all due respect, is a significant and terrible disappointment. It’s omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest the investigators reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later."

Yee even suggests that the NFL cooperated with the Indianapolis Colts to run a "sting operation" with the end goal of embarrassing Tom and the Patriots.

Yee also suggests that Ted Wells was not truly running an "independent investigation" -- because his firm makes a lot of money off the NFL ... and is heavily influenced by the league.

There's more ... Yee says Tom was NOT difficult with investigators and "made himself available for nearly an entire day and patiently answered every question."

Yee continues, "The Wells report omitted nearly all of Tom’s testimony, most of which was critical because it would have provided this report with the context that it lacks."

Deflategate is stupid ... Tom Brady is still awesome ... and the Patriots shouldn't have to give their Super Bowl rings back ... so says supermodel Crissy Tiegen.

Tiegen -- who happens to be a Seahawks fan -- says the Wells Report is just "beating a dead horse" ... with the Pats already having been shamed in public AND by the President of the United States.

Fully inflated balls wouldn't have changed the outcome of the AFC Championship game ... the Pats still would've won BIG ... so says someone who was there, Colts linebacker Erik Walden.

Walden -- who racked up 5 tackles in that game -- says it's "gross" that Brady would resort to cheating ... but says, "I don't think that s**t made a difference in our game."

For the record, the Pats beat the Colts 45-7.

"They're already hard to beat and now we know they do that extra s**t to win. They're coming at you from every angle."

Walden added, "It's unfortunate that they did this, but they're still the champs. You gotta give them credit, they did it, and they got away with it, and they won the Super Bowl."

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks has been accused of sexually assaulting a passed out woman at a then-teammate's home ... according to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports.

The woman making the allegations is the same woman who previously claimed she was raped by Ray McDonald ... a former 49ers defensive end who now plays for the Chicago Bears.

McDonald had sued the woman for defamation ... after the San Jose PD investigated the allegations but dropped the case due to insufficient evidence.

Now, the woman is firing back in the defamation lawsuit -- claiming she believes there is SURVEILLANCE VIDEO from the night in question ... which shows part of the alleged sexual assault.

According to the docs obtained by TMZ Sports, the woman says on December 14th, 2014 she was at McDonald's home and slipped and fell on the deck around his swimming pool, knocking herself unconscious for more than 8 minutes.

While she was blacked out, the woman claims the video will show McDonald's friend Brooks "groped her person in a sexual manner."

She claims McDonald then carried her up to his bedroom where he had sex with her ... without her consent.

The woman -- who hired Gloria Allred as her attorney in the matter -- is going after McDonald for assault and battery, false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress. Ditto for Brooks. She and Allred just held a news conference to talk about the case.

We've reached out to Brooks for comment -- so far, no word back.

Tom Brady consciously cheated in the AFC Championship "Deflategate" game ... the game before the Super Bowl ... so says the guy charged with investigating the scandal.

The NFL just released the results of Ted Wells' investigation into Deflategate ... which says it is "more probable than not that New England Patriots personnel participated in violations of the NFL Playing Rules and were involved in a deliberate attempt to circumvent those rules."

The report also says, "We also have concluded that it is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of [the locker room attendants] involving the release of air from Patriots game balls."

The report says ... when people began to get suspicious about the balls, the locker room guys began communicating with Brady by phone and text messages with "significantly increased frequency."

Investigators also say the men who deflated the footballs "received valuable items autographed by Tom Brady the week before the AFC Champsionship game."

As for Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick ... Wells says the investigation shows there was NO evidence to support theories that they were involved in Deflategate.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft issued a statement saying, "To say we are disappointed in its findings, which do not include any incontrovertible or hard evidence of deliberate deflation of footballs at the AFC Championship game, would be a gross understatement."

Kraft added, "We will accept the findings of the report and take the appropriate actions based on those findings as well as any discipline levied by the league.”

Back in January, Brady adamantly DENIED having any involvement in Deflategate

Former Baltimore Ravens running back Damien Berry -- who started for the Miami Hurricanes in 2010 -- was arrested this morning in Florida ... after allegedly bouncing more than $100k in bad checks.

TMZ Sports has confirmed ... the 25-year-old, who was part of the Ravens 2013 Super Bowl championship team, is currently locked up in Lee County jail on a warrant from Maryland.

We're told Berry is facing 1 count of bouncing a check over $100k and 1 count of unauthorized removal of property.

In other words, it seems like officials believe he bought something with bad checks ... and illegally took possession of the goods.

Legal weed in Washington D.C. means legal munchies in Washington D.C. ... which could be HUGE for the pizza business ... and NFL star Pierre Garcon says he's ready for the boom!!!

The Washington Redskins wide receiver -- one of the founders of SpinFire Pizza -- just opened his 2nd location ... this one just miles from the nation's capital, where weed became legal back in March.

"Hopefully, it helps my business," Garcon joked with TMZ Sports ... "but hopefully, not too many people get in trouble with the marijuana in the league."

As far as the pizza business goes, Garcon says he's trying to catch up to Peyton Manning ... who owns 21 Papa John's locations in the Denver area -- and is CRUSHING it, btw.

"I'm trying to grow like he is!"

Chris Johnson wants to be a Dallas Cowboy ... telling TMZ Sports he has a special message for Jerry Jones -- "Holla at me!"

The NFL running back was out at a fancy sushi dinner at Katsuya in Hollywood with his old teammate Vince Young earlier this week when we talked about his future in the league.

Chris made it crystal clear ... he's all about Big D and thinks he'd be a perfect fit.

Question is ... are the feelings mutual?!

Former NFL wide receiver Titus Young is getting one year of probation for each person he attacked during a 2 month rampage at a mental health facility.

Young was sentenced Tuesday in L.A. for 5 batteries he committed last year at Augustus Hawkins Mental Health Facility. We broke the story ... Young attacked his attorney, along with four other patients.

In addition to the 5 years of probation ... Titus must remain at a mental health facility -- not Augustus Hawkins -- for the next year. He was given credit for 99 days served.

Adrian Peterson has been in NFL exile long enough ... and should come back to the league with the Dallas Cowboys ... so says Dean Cain.

Cain -- who's tight with Dallas head coach Jason Garrett -- says it would be "game over" if the Cowboys were able to sign the running back in his first year back since the child abuse situation.

But Dean says he also knows Adrian ... and firmly believes the guy has "learned his lesson" after he was convicted of beating his 4-year-old son with a switch in 2014.

Ex-LSU football star La'el Collins has told police he has an airtight alibi in the murder of the pregnant woman suspected of carrying his child ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Sources close to the investigation tell us ... Collins -- who was a projected 1st round NFL draft pick before the double murder -- spoke with investigators and said he has witnesses and phone records that prove he was nowhere close to Brittney Mills on the night she was gunned down.

Mills was shot to death around 10:30 PM on April 24th at her apartment in Baton Rouge.

But Collins told investigators he was an hour away in New Orleans at the time of the shooting -- as part of an overnight trip with friends and family to watch the New Orleans Pelicans take on the Golden State Warriors on Saturday April 25th.

We're told Collins also claims he has texts and emails proving the group had planned the trip several days before the killing ... and he believes GPS records on his cell phone will back up his story.

For the record, Collins has NOT been named a suspect in the murder of Brittney and her unborn son.

Our sources say La'el told cops he hadn't spoken with Brittney for several months -- when she first suggested that he could be the father of her child.

Lawrence Taylor Jr. -- the son of NFL legend Lawrence Taylor -- just plead guilty to statutory rape, child molestation, and aggravated sodomy (oral sex) ... and was sentenced to 30 years in prison ... TMZ Sports has learned.

We broke the story ... Taylor Jr. was arrested in Georgia after two 13-year-old girls told cops Lawrence had forced himself upon them on separate occasions.

According to Cobb County Superior Court officials, Taylor Jr. was sentenced to 30 years in jail ... but will be eligible for release in 10.

TMZ Sports spoke with the father of one of the victims ... who says he is happy Taylor Jr. is off the streets, but feels he should have gotten MORE time for his crimes.

We reached out to the Taylor family -- so far, no comment.