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Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell plans to return to the team in less than two weeks. This gives the Steelers more than enough time to rescind the franchise tender, if they are simply ready to move on from him. Per a league source, they don’t intend to.

But they’ll also have a window to trade him, if they’d prefer to simply move on. If Bell returns during Week Seven, the Steelers will be able to move Bell until the window closes on the Tuesday after Week Eight. Per a league source, the Steelers continue to consider the possibility of getting what they can for Bell before the trade deadline.

In assessing what they can get for a partial-year rental of Bell, the Steelers need to consider whether the 2020 compensatory draft pick arising from Bell’s departure would outweigh whatever someone offers for him now. There’s also another factor to consider.

Even though use of the transition tender in 2019 (a third application of the franchise tag costs at least $25 million) would give the Steelers only a right to match an offer sheet and no compensation, they could match an offer sheet signed under the transition tender and then promptly trade Bell to the team that signed him to the offer sheet.