Perhaps as much as any NFL head coach, Pete Carroll is known for awarding jobs based on merit more so than a player's contract or draft round.
A few notable examples:
In one of their first major moves running the Seattle Seahawks, he and general manager John Schneider traded for running back LenDale While -- a star for Carroll at USC -- only to cut him a month later.
Carroll went with rookie Russell Wilson as his starting quarterback in 2012 after the Seahawks gave veteran Matt Flynn $10 million guaranteed that offseason.