One day after reaching the NFL's mandatory 53-man roster limit, the Bears practiced in shells Wednesday at Halas Hall. Here's what transpired:

With no game this weekend, the Bears are replicating part of their regular-season practice week in preparation for their Sept. 8 opener against the Titans.

"The next two days we get a chance to have our team together here and really go through the rhythm and flow of an in-season Wednesday and an in-season Thursday," said coach Matt Eberflus. "It's important to be able to do that with a young quarterback with an offense that's going through it for the first time and us going through it together. So [Caleb Williams] will get the show-team looks and all the things that we do on an in-season Wednesday and Thursday, so that's good."

Good players everywhere

The influx of talent on the Bears roster is evident to fifth-year tight end Cole Kmet.

"I feel like I look around and we've just got a ton of good players everywhere, whether that's offense, defense, special teams," said the 2020 second-round pick from Notre Dame. "I mean, I'm amazed by our punter (Tory Taylor). It's like he has a 9-iron and a 6-iron in the bag anytime he wants it. It's pretty crazy.

"I just think there's a lot of depth everywhere and I think that was evident in the preseason games with how we did and us going 4-0 in those games and being pretty dominant in most of those wins. I think that there's a lot of depth throughout the roster and I'm sure the roster cuts weren't too easy on Ryan [Poles]. That just means that he's put together a pretty deep roster, and I like what I see all around."

Really smart dude

Kmet pointed to Shane Waldron's play-calling in preseason games as evidence that the first-year offensive coordinator is "a really smart dude."

"I've been impressed with how he installs and how he teaches the offense, and I think it really gets through well to the players," Kmet said. "[Waldron] likes to use a ton of different personnel groupings and we've seen that throughout camp, which has been really cool, putting guys in good positions that they can succeed in."

Kmet described Waldron's teaching style as "direct, straightforward, to the point, and it just seems to get through to everybody."

"When you can do that," Kmet said, "it's a sign of a good teacher and a good coach, and I think he's shown that throughout camp."

Roster moves

The Bears re-signed fullback Khari Blasingame and placed long snapper Patrick Scales on injured reserve.

Blasingame was released Tuesday as part of the cutdown to 53 players. Since signing with the Bears in 2022, he has rushed for 26 yards on eight carries and caught three passes for two yards in 32 games over two seasons.

Scales is the longest tenured Bears player, having appeared in 120 games over eight seasons. He served as the team's long-snapper in the final five contests in 2015 and all 16 games in 2016 before missing the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL he sustained in the third preseason game. He returned to play in all 99 contests the past six seasons, a streak that will end next week.

Versatile weapon

Eberflus revealed that Velus Jones Jr. earned a roster spot "just by his efforts and the production he had in practice, in the preseason games, and his willingness to be able to adjust and adapt and be able to get that done in terms of his performance."

During an audition at running back late in training camp, Jones rushed for 111 yards on 13 carries, including a 39-yard touchdown, in a preseason win over the Chiefs in Kansas City. The 2022 third-round pick is still listed as a receiver on the Bears roster but is expected to be used in a hybrid role.

"He's going to be a guy for us that we can use him multiple ways," Eberflus said. "We can use him in the backfield. We can spread him out. We can do a lot of different things with him, and that's to me a benefit. To try to defend that when he comes in the game is a little bit different than just a normal type of receiver, or a guy that can line up in the backfield. I think it creates a little bit of time-on-task practice-wise for the opponent and also preparation-wise in the film study."

Bright future

One of the players the Bears signed to their practice squad was undrafted rookie quarterback Austin Reed. The Western Kentucky product completed 12 of 16 passes for 123 yards with one touchdown and a 117.4 passer rating in the preseason.

"We just like the way he operated," Eberflus said. "Super smart. He performed well in the games. Was great in the quarterback room in terms of supporting and being involved and engaged in there. We think he's got a bright future."