Running back Le'Veon Bell will reportedly return to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 7, and he'll then accrue the necessary service time to become a free agent in March 2019.

The Steelers won't stand in his way. The team doesn't intend to rescind the franchise tender offered to Bell before the season, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reports, citing a league source.

The Steelers used their franchise tag on Bell for the second consecutive year this past offseason, one that would have paid the back $14.544 million for the campaign.

While Pittsburgh won't be pulling back its offer before Bell returns from what is now a five-week holdout, trade options are still being explored, Florio reports.

The Steelers enter a Week 5 showdown against the Atlanta Falcons with a record of 1-2-1, and they rank 29th in rushing.

Bell, a two-time All-Pro, finished as a top-five rusher in each of the past two seasons.