The NFL's deadline for teams to ink players designated with the franchise tag to long-term deals prior to the 2018 season has officially passed. Most notably, the Pittsburgh Steelers failed to work out a new multi-year extension with star running back Le'Veon Bell.

Despite that, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert released a statement regarding the situation on behalf of the team, stating that the franchise will re-attempt to sign Bell to a new contract after the 2018 campaign comes to a close. (h/t Bryan Deardo of 247 Sports)

“Even though we could not reach a long-term contract agreement with Le’Veon Bell, we are excited he will be with the team in 2018,” Colbert stated. “We worked very hard to find common ground, but we were unable to accomplish that prior to today’s deadline. Le’Veon will play this season under the exclusive franchise tag designation. After the 2018 season is completed, we again will attempt to work out a long-term contract with Le’Veon in the hope that he will continue his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

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There is still significant interest from Bell to finish out his career with the Steelers, which he made clear in a tweet following the deadline passing on Monday afternoon. He has persistently voiced as much in the months after the franchise tag was placed on him for the second straight year.

The Steelers do have the ability to place the franchise tag on him for a third consecutive time, but the team will likely look to reconsider their willingness to meet his demands. This would especially be the case if he puts up yet another highly productive campaign in comparison to 2017, where he had 1,291 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns as well as a career-best 85 catches for 655 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Steelers' willingness to offer Bell the money that he's looking to get on his next deal will ultimately be the deciding factor. Until then, Pittsburgh will look to center their focus on competing for a Super Bowl in 2018.