It's not quite déjà vu all over again, but it's pretty darn close.
Starting Tuesday, NFL teams can begin placing franchise and transition tags on their pending free agents. And it appears the Steelers are going to tag running back Le'Veon Bell for a third-straight year.
Only this time around, instead of using the franchise tag on Bell, as they have done the previous two years, the Steelers could place the transition tag on the star running back this year. They would have until March 3 to do so.
The end game would be to acquire something for Bell for the 2019 season. But it also could lead to a battle between the NFL and NFLPA over how much the tag would cost -- or if it's even legal under the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Steelers to use that tag on Bell.
At the heart of the dispute would be the fact the Steelers have franchise-tagged Bell the previous two seasons. Bell played in 2017 for the tag value of $12.1 million but chose not to play in 2018 for the tag value of $14.5 million.
And therein lies the rub. Since Bell did play in 2017, he and the NFLPA will argue that his 2019 transition tag value will be $14.5 million, 120 percent of his 2017 salary.
The Steelers and NFL will argue that value is $9.5 million, a prorated portion of his salary since he chose not to play in 2018.
That will likely lead to arbitration that will decide on the figure since no player has ever been franchise tagged twice and then had the transition tag placed on him, let alone after sitting out for a season.
The idea for the Steelers will not be to retain Bell, a two-time All-Pro, but to get a draft pick in return in 2019 as opposed to waiting for a possible compensatory pick in 2020.
How that would work: A team would offer Bell a contract as a free agent. The Steelers would then have seven days to match the offer.
That would give them seven days to work out a trade with the offering team. The Steelers would tell the team that made the offer sheet they will match the deal unless that team sends them a 2019 draft pick.
The reasons the Steelers want to take this track is because they would like to get a return for Bell now rather than wait a year. And because of the way the rules work for compensatory picks, the Steelers aren't guaranteed to get the highest-level pick -- at the end of the third round -- for Bell, especially if the Steelers are active in free agency.
While they aren't likely to sign one free agent to a contract in the neighborhood of what Bell will get, if they sign several players to decent contracts who wind up seeing major playing time, it could cancel out Bell's value in the compensatory equation. So a third-round compensatory pick for Bell isn't guaranteed.
But if the Steelers decline to match the offer sheet Bell receives, they would receive no compensation.
One other added bonus to placing the transition tag on Bell is having a hand in steering where he winds up.
For example, one of the teams linked to potentially signing Bell has been the Ravens. The Steelers would obviously prefer not to see Bell sign with a division rival. They could choose to match any offer Bell receives from the Ravens. Per NFL rules, they would then not be permitted to trade him to the team that signed him to the offer sheet, but they could trade him to another team of their choice.