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PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Le'Veon Bell is free to go. Antonio Brown, maybe not so much.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have no plans to place a transition tag on Bell, allowing the star running back to reach the open market when free agency begins next month. And while the team will explore moving Brown, general manager Kevin Colbert stressed Wednesday the Steelers will not cut the talented but turbulent star wide receiver just to appease him.
"By no means are we going to make a trade or any type of move that will not be beneficial to the Pittsburgh Steeler organization," Colbert said. "We will not be discounting (Brown) on the trade market and we certainly will not be releasing (him)."
Brown began openly campaigning for a new team shortly after Pittsburgh finished 9-6-1, upset after being made inactive for the regular season finale against Cincinnati for failing to provide coach Mike Tomlin with an update on his status after Tomlin sent Brown home from practice a couple of days before the game to nurse an injury.
The Steelers won but missed the playoffs. Brown has spent most of the last two months thumbing his nose at the organization via social media in an effort to assure he wouldn't be welcomed back, including calling out quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for having an "owner mentality" and questioning Tomlin's integrity.
Yet Colbert said he doesn't believe Brown's erratic behavior will hurt his trade value and didn't even rule out a chance that Brown returns to Pittsburgh for a 10th season in 2019. Brown met with Colbert, team president Art Rooney II and vice president Omar Khan in Florida on Tuesday to clear the air.
The team has not yet entered into active trade talks for Brown, the only .