Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Few teams have as many key free agents to re-sign as the New York Jets, who lost to thePittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game and now have 17 players scheduled to hit free agency.

But New York plans to use its lone franchise tag not on receivers Santonio Holmes or Braylon Edwards, but on linebacker David Harris, according to a league source.

Cornerback Antonio Cromartie and special teams ace Brad Smith also will be free agents.

The linebacker franchise tag number last season was $9.6 million, but Harris would like a considerably longer-term deal than just one year. If franchise tags are allowed — and the NFLPA plans to battle that — the Jets will restrict the 27-year-old Harris but will allow Holmes and Edwards to test the free-agent market.

Harris, who was voted by the Jets’ players as the team’s MVP, had 99 tackles and three sacks in the 2010 season. He has had 127 tackles in two of his four NFL seasons, including 2009 — his first in coach Rex Ryan’s defensive system.

The Jets would like to bring back at least one of their veteran wide receivers. In fact, at his end of the season press conference, general manager Mike Tannenbaum said he would like to re-sign both Holmes and Edwards. He felt the duo aided quarterback Mark Sanchez’s development.

Adam Schefter is ESPN’s NFL Insider.