Pete Carroll's Seahawks were interested in Haynesworth

When it appeared more likely that the Redskins would attempt to get rid of Albert Haynesworth before next season, the Seattle Seahawks were often mentioned as a potential destination. Turns out the Seahawks were actively researching Haynesworth to see whether they wanted to add the lineman.

"We started the process, because we thought maybe they weren't gonna be able to come to a deal and they were gonna make him available," Carroll said Thursday on the LaVar and Dukes Show. "But it didn't work out that way."

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio latched onto Carroll's admission of interest, pointing out that this could be a violation of the league's anti-tampering policy. Florio quotes the policy like so:

"Any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club's player to that player's agent or representative, or to a member of the news media, is a violation of this Anti-Tampering Policy."

Carroll's interest was qualified, in that he wondered the same thing many current and former players have wondered in recent weeks: whether Haynesworth is actually in love with playing football.

"It sends up some immediate flags," Carroll said, when asked about Haynesworth staying away from Ashburn this offseason. "You've got some questions now, and you want to know why. But for me, I'm not gonna make a decision, a declaration on something like that without knowing the player, hearing the situation and gathering as much as you can. You don't ever really know the whole story until you dig in, and so therefore I don't.

"We were interested in the thought of him because he's such a fantastic payer, but [it depends] if he wants to play the game. That's what you have to figure out. Where's the love of the game in all of this, and where does this all fit in? Because regardless of what [position] you're playing him, if his heart isn't in it 1,000 percent, and he wants to be great and be a part of a great team, then you need to get another guy."

In other Haynesworth news, I've now read about 1,000 jokes that there wasn't actually an earthquake Friday morning, it was merely Haynesworth setting foot in the D.C. area. Other variations I've seen on Twitter:

* Btw, that wasn't an earthquake - it was Joe Finley out for a morning jog.

* Livan Hernandez fell out of bed.

* The DC Earthquake finds a doorway for shelter when it sees Strasburg coming.

* Slept through an earthquake this morning. Assumed it was Haynesworth getting out of his car.

* There was no earthquake; Albert Haynesworth just fell out his bed last night.

* It wasn't a earthquake in the DMV, Checkers ran out of burgers and Albert Haynesworth went ballistic.

* Looks like Albert Haynesworth has set foot in DC! What's that you say? Oh sorry, it was just an earthquake.

And so on and so forth.