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As NFL.com reported it, "Le'Veon Bell will hit the free agent market with no strings attached."

Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert told reporters on Wednesday that the team will not use the transition tag on Bell.

"Le'Veon is still a great player. We can't afford to use any other type of tags," Colbert said. "Le'Veon will be an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year."

NFL.com's Kevin Patra reminded readers the idea of Pittsburgh slapping the transition tag on Bell had been bandied about as an option the Steelers could attempt to utilize possibly to match a contract offer. The other idea rumored had been that Pittsburgh might use the transition tag as a potential mechanism to trade Bell and thus receive immediate compensation for the running back, which would have been exceedingly difficult to pull off.

Using the transition tag always seemed like a longshot option. Now it's a non-option and Bell will now hit the open market, which was the dual-threat running back's goal when refusing to sign the $14.5 million franchise tag last year and sitting out the entire season.

Now Bell needs to find a team willing to compensate him at his desired rate.

Given the success his replacement, James Conner had in Bell's absence (and C.J. Anderson's efforts coming off the street to make a major contribution to the Rams over the final two games and through the Super Bowl), you have to wonder if the market is going to be everything Bell hopes.

We'll continue to watch for more on that.