" NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell did the Browns a huge favor by suspending receiver Donté Stallworth without pay for the 2009 season.

It relieves the Browns of a combustible public-relations issue and even costlier consequences to their team salary cap.

The Browns can keep Stallworth on the reserve/suspended list through the 2009 season. He will be out of sight and out of mind. He is able to work out on his own, according to modified terms of his house arrest granted by a Florida judge on Tuesday, but the NFL prohibits him from entering the Browns' team facility.

They won't release Stallworth because that symbolic move would cost them about $7.6 million on their salary cap.

That figure is derived from details of the seven-year, $35 million contract he signed as a free agent in 2008.

As a result of Goodell's suspension, the Browns will receive cap relief of $745,000, which is Stallworth's base salary. "