If, as Le'Veon Bell has suggested, he intends to report to the Steelers sometime next week after they play Sunday in Cincinnati, management will have a couple of weeks to decide if they intend to activate him immediately or wait until after the bye week.
But that isn't the only roster move starting them in the face. It's just the most prominent decision Kevin Colbert will make in the next few weeks.
With Bell, the Steelers can apply for a roster waiver of up to two weeks and could, as they did a year ago, wait until they return to action at Heinz Field against Cleveland Oct. 28 before placing Bell on the active roster.
That would mean someone else would have to go. And that player wouldn't be alone:
• Receiver Eli Rogers, currently on the PUP list, is eligible to return to practice next week after sitting out the first six weeks of the regular season while continuing to recover from a torn ACL suffered in a Jan. 14 playoff loss to Jacksonville. The Steelers have a five-week window from the time he returns to practice to decide whether they will activate him or place him on season-ending injured reserve. Rogers has been working out in earnest in recent weeks and has told people he is ready to go.
• Rookie linebacker Ola Adeniyi, who was placed on injured reserve at the start of the season, also is eligible to return after Week 8 as one of the team's two players the team can bring back from that list. The Steelers have been carrying three outside linebackers -- T.J. Watt, Bud Dupree and Anthony Chickillo -- all season and could choose to add Adeniyi, who had a good preseason, to that group at the expense of another player.
Also clouding the issue is the NFL trade deadline looming Oct. 30, two days after the game against the Browns.
The Steelers are open to the idea of trading Bell, though such a deal could be difficult given his contract status as a franchise-tagged player.
But the Eagles, one of the teams reported to be interested in Bell, just lost leading rusher Jay Ajayi for the remainder of the season after placing him on injured reserve Monday with a torn ACL.
The Eagles, however, are only $3.8 million under the salary cap and would be unable to fit the remaining portion of Bell's contract, currently $10.2 million for the remainder of the season but decreasing by $855,000 every week he does not play, onto their cap. That could force the Eagles and Steelers to get creative if they wanted to work out a deal.
One interesting possibility could be figuring out a three-way deal with another team -- something that rarely, if ever, happens in the NFL.
For example, Arizona is reportedly shopping linebacker Haason Reddick, its 2017 first-round draft pick who doesn't fit into the team's defensive scheme after an offseason coaching change.
The Steelers showed some interest in selecting Reddick during last year's draft process, but he was selected 13th by the Cardinals. The Steelers instead took Watt 30th overall.
Reddick is undersized at 6-1, 235 pounds, to play outside linebacker in the Steelers' defensive scheme, but could be used as an inside linebacker in Pittsburgh. He ran a 4.52-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine and, as a former defensive back who was shifted to defensive end at Temple, has above-average cover skills.
He also has two years remaining after 2018 on his rookie contract.
What could such a deal look like?
Perhaps the Steelers would send Bell to Philadelphia, while the Eagles send a draft pick, perhaps a second-round selection, to the Cardinals to get the deal completed. Philadelphia also could include one of their aging defensive linemen such as Chris Long and his $3 million salary to easier fit Bell under its cap.
Is it likely? Probably not. But the Steelers might want to think outside the box in this situation, particularly given James Conner's emergence as a legitimate option in Bell's absence.