02/28 — One of the great things about the NFL is that it brings the holidays to its fans not just one day a year but several. There's the national holiday known as the Super Bowl, the morning of every team's opening day and the draft.

And there is Friday morning, when fans will see if Pigskin Santa left an unrestricted free agent under each team's tree.

Of course, the free agency signing period extends for more than one day — restricted FAs can be signed to offer sheets through mid-April and unrestricted FAs on into July — but we all know of the frenzy that will begin for some teams and players at 12:01 a.m. Friday, when the courting and the signing can officially begin.

From the reports of our friendly beatwriters today, it sounds as if the Jets will be active. However, I can neither confirm nor deny that will be the case and can only refer you to GM Mike Tannenbaum, who said in his Sirius NFL Radio interview from the Indy combine last week: "We can sign seven guys or not sign any. You just never know the vagaries of free agency, but we're prepared and we'll see what happens."

I can't go back in Jets history with some fans who remember every game from the hot-and-cold Eighties, the bleak Seventies, the soaring Sixties, but I can go back-back-back to the beginnings of free agency.

Unrestricted free agency began in the NFL in 1993, following several years of the transitional Plan B system. And there was probably no more exciting free agency period in Jets history, oddly enough, than in March 1996.

That was the year when Rich Kotite and then-owner Leon Hess brought in several big names to wipe out the memory of the 3-13 record in 1995.

QB Neil O'Donnell was coming off a Super Bowl appearance with Pittsburgh. Tackle John "Jumbo" Elliott came over from the Giants and back to his Long Island roots. In the days before the UFA period began, veteran tackle David Williams, a cap casualty already on the street, came aboard. Dangerous WR Jeff Graham blew in from Chicago. Frank Reich, forever to be known as the QB in the greatest comeback in NFL history, signed to back up O'Donnell.

There was, I recall, something of a buzz surrounding the Jets, all the way up until the losses began. And by the 15th defeat, vs. Miami in December, none of the signings looked all that good. At least O'Donnell, Graham and Elliott helped Bill Parcells start rebuilding the next year, and Jumbo carried on into the new millennium, with his starring moment coming as a tight end in "The Miracle in the Meadowlands."

There have been other good free agency hauls since then, in quality and quantity, such as '97 (seven UFAs, six of whom started), 1998 (Curtis Martin as a restricted FA and Kevin Mawae) and 2002 (which helped lift them to their last division title and into the playoffs).

What will this year's free agency period bring to the Jets and their faithful? All we can do is wait and see. Until then, here is a list of UFAs and RFAs who signed with the Jets since 1993. Keep in mind that I'm not listing garden-variety veteran FAs who were cut by their teams and signed by the Jets, such as Ty Law and the aforementioned David Williams. (r-restricted)