Devin Hester practices with Bears defensive backs ... wait, what?

Bears kick returner Devin Hester was picking up and driving a tackling sled. And he was back-pedaling, cutting, turning and catching passes fired his way.

And he was doing it all with the Bears’ defensive backs at practice on Wednesday.

With nickel back Isaiah Frey dealing with a broken bone in his hand and cornerback Charles Tillman on injured reserve, is something in the works here with Hester?

“We try to keep Devin as busy as we can throughout the course of practice, but you never know,” coach Marc Trestman said with a huge smile. “You never know. We certainly want to keep him doing what he’s been doing. But he does have value, certainly, doing other things, and who knows? Nothing’s out of the question. {But] it’s not something we’ve spent a lot of time talking about.”

That’s right. Let’s not get carried away here. Frey still is expected to play on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams and Hester has gone through drills with his teammates in the past, going all the way back to training camp.

The Bears’ plan has never changed — Hester’s sole focus is on being the best returner he can be.

But just to be sure, let’s hear what defensive coordinator Mel Tucker has to say about Hester’s work at defensive back.

“Sometimes he’ll hop in from time to time and get a little work in,” Tucker said. “There’s really no news there.”

So you’re not converting Hester back to defensive back, which was at Miami?

“No, I’m not in the converting business today,” Tucker said.