Seahawks spoke with Cam Newton as potential Russell Wilson fill-in

The Seattle Seahawks fell to 2-4 on the season via Sunday night's overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers with Geno Smith serving as a temporary starting quarterback in place of the injured Russell Wilson. Wilson will likely miss at least a month of action after having surgery to repair an injury to the middle finger on his throwing hand. 

Last week Seattle worked out veteran quarterback Blake Bortles, and coach Pete Carroll confirmed Monday the club also reached out to free agent and 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player Cam Newton. 

"Just so you know, we have talked to him. We’re talking to everybody that could help us," Carroll told Mike Salk of 710 ESPN about Newton, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. 

Newton has remained available since the New England Patriots released him as part of their final roster cuts on Aug. 31. The 32-year-old infamously missed five days of practice in August because of what was described as a "misunderstanding" of COVID-19 health and safety protocols, but ESPN noted Sunday Newton said in an uploaded YouTube video that he is now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and wishes to continue playing. 

"Hell yeah I still want to play football," Newton explained. "I still get that urge to go out and perform and do something that I've been doing since I was 7 years old." 

There is currently no indication Seattle plans to sign Newton.