"As the NFL's players and owners work toward a new collective bargaining agreement that could end the lockout before the Fourth of July, Howie Roseman sits anxiously in his office at the NovaCare Complex, itching for the fireworks to begin.

To say that Roseman, the Philadelphia Eagles' second-year general manager, is geeked up for the impending start of the league year is like labeling Cleveland sports fans as "pleased" that LeBron James flopped in the NBA Finals. Armed with an expendable quarterback, Kevin Kolb, that numerous teams covet and secure in the conviction that the Michael Vick-led Eagles can contend for a Super Bowl championship, Roseman can't wait to start wheeling and dealing in rapid-fire fashion.

"We need to get this [labor dispute] settled," Roseman said Tuesday via speakerphone as he drove home from work. "I'm ready for some action – right now."

Part of a new wave of young, eager general managers receptive to making aggressive roster moves, Roseman figures to be in the center of the action once the lockout is lifted. His tenure has not been subtle. Fourteen months ago he traded the most successful quarterback in franchise history, Donovan McNabb, to the Washington Redskins. Though Roseman annoyed many of his peers with what they perceived as unrealistic demands, he ultimately made a deal with a division rival which, given McNabb's D.C. flameout and the stunning reemergence of Vick as an MVP-caliber quarterback, looks pretty sweet in retrospect.

Now, with the Eagles coming off a surprisingly successful season which ended 27 yards short of a playoff triumph over the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, Roseman is – with apologies to "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson – in it to win it. Though the owner-imposed lockout prevents Roseman from commenting on specific players, another Eagles source familiar with the organization's thinking threw out names like Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth, ex-New York Giants wideout Plaxico Burress and even current New Orleans Saints halfback Reggie Bush as players Philly might explore as potential acquisitions.

"This is the year," the source said earlier this week. "We think we have a great shot to win it, and we're loading up and going for it."

Owner Jeffrey Lurie recently expressed a similar sentiment to the Philadelphia Inquirer's Ashley Fox, saying, "We're ready to roll when there's a new league year. … We've got a great plan in place, and you never know what you can accomplish, but I know we're going to be both aggressive and hopefully make the right decisions. It's frustrating to be a team that's poised to make some of the moves we want to make and not be able to. I think we'll all be excited when the league year starts."

Roseman, who turns 36 next week, has been preparing for the lockout's abrupt end and league year's beginning – and the corresponding start of free agency and allowance of other player transactions – for the past several months. Given that he and his wife, Mindy, have three children under the age of five, including a two-month-old son, this is one executive for whom hunkering down at the office may not represent a pronounced loss of sleep.

He hasn't taken a real vacation since the season ended, and the two scribbled on the July page of the family's calendar could be in jeopardy as well.

"There are two trips we've had planned for a year; friends are coming into town to join us on one of them," Roseman said, laughing. "So I guarantee that's when the lockout will be settled. That wouldn't be ideal, but whenever it happens, we'll be ready. It's a once-in-a-career opportunity.""