TEMPE Ariz. -- At some point, Jeff Rodgers had the VHS tape of Devin Hester's college returns that he kept in his office converted to a DVD.

Technology has changed throughout Rodgers' 14 years as a special teams coach, but one thing hasn't: talent.

So, Rodgers, who was hired last week by new Arizona Cardinals coach Steve Wilks as the team's special teams coordinator, always kept the footage of Hester at the University of Miami within reach just in case he ever needed to settle the question of whether a college prospect was as good or better than Hester.

The first player Rodgers turned the film on for was Patrick Peterson in 2011 -- five years after Hester was drafted. Seven years later, Rodgers will have the opportunity to coach Peterson, the seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback who also dabbles in punt returns.

"I thought his college stuff was very impressive," Rodgers said of Peterson. "Obviously, he does a lot for this football team. You can't have enough good returners on your roster. We'll see how that plays out, but I'm certainly glad he's on our team."

As Peterson has established himself as a premier cornerback, his role as a return man as decreased. He's gone from 128 punt returns in his first four seasons -- including 44 with four touchdowns as a rookie in 2011 -- to 59 over the past three seasons. That came after not returning a punt at all in 2014. In each of the past two seasons, Peterson has returned exactly 13 punts, usually in critical situations.

His role on special teams under Wilks and Rodgers has yet to be determined.

Wilks said everyone on the roster will be evaluated, but he also said he doesn't want Peterson involved in every return.

"I think you've got to do what's best for the team and that's the most important thing that I'm going to do," Wilks said. "I talked to Jeff, particularly when we went through the process of interviewing and I told him, once again, that special teams is going to be important and I want every player on this team to understand that.

"I think once guys understand the importance and most importantly, being a good teammate, he's going to be willing to adjust. Now, do I want him in that situation each and every time? No. We talked about a situation with (Panthers star linebacker) Luke Kuechly. He was involved in special teams, but he wasn't a major part of that. So, we've got to be very selective and most importantly, we've got to be smart about our decisions."

When Peterson has been on the field for punts, he hasn't taken many opportunities to return them. Since 2015, he's called for a fair catch on 38 of his 59 returns, according to The Football Database, including nine in 13 returns last season and 12 in 13 in 2016. However, when Peterson has returned punts, he's been effective. He has 429 return yards over the past three seasons for an average of 20.4 yards per actual return.

That's enough that just having him deep can be a threat to other teams.

"I can speak to my experiences on the opposing sideline," Rodgers said. "He's certainly a guy that gets your attention."