A smile spread wide across Alshon Jeffery's face after practice Thursday when he was asked about the return of Jay Cutler.

Jeffery, the Bears' best offensive threat by a long stretch, has been a stand-up guy when discussing his usage since Cutler went out during the Week 2 loss to the Eagles.

For a big-play wide receiver with a Pro Bowl trip and a 1,400-yard season to his credit, he doesn't possess the diva tendencies that often come with stars at the position. Jeffery doesn't throw tantrums when he doesn't get the ball, and the most frustration we've seen from him is a helmet toss on the sideline after Brian Hoyer didn't see him open behind the Colts' Vontae Davis on fourth down at the end of the Week 5 loss to the Colts. That's more reasonable than losing a boxing match with the kicking net like the Giants Odell Beckham Jr. did earlier this season.

After the loss in Indianapolis, Jeffery talked about frustration from a team standpoint. Imagine Brandon Marshall if he had been targeted only 18 times over four games, three of them losses.

Surely, Marshall would explain — loudly — that if he got the ball more, the team would have a better chance of winning. There would be a slideshow of palms-up poses to look at. Onetime Bears wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad once doctored his Panthers practice jersey to read D-Coy on the back as a not-so-subtle measure to point out the ball wasn't coming his way enough.

There should be no shortage of targets for Jeffery with Cutler back under center and ready for what might be a final hurrah with the Bears. Cutler with nothing to lose will probably mean more downfield targets for Jeffery, too, putting him in position to haul in 50/50 jump balls that he seems to turn into 80/20 propositions.

“I am excited,” Jeffery said. “It doesn't matter who is out there at quarterback but, I mean, Jay is my guy. Look forward to it.”

In a second consecutive contract year for Jeffery, the return of Cutler stands to have a greater impact on the Bears' No. 1 wide receiver than any other player. Through seven games, Jeffery has 32 receptions for 520 yards, putting him on pace for 73 and 1,189. That's a fine season and not too long ago would have been a huge year by the Bears' usually low standards at the position. But it's well short of maximizing Jeffery's talents. Now he's poised to take off.

“We'll be on the same page most of the time,” Jeffery said. “I just tell him, ‘Throw it up and give me a chance.' ”

Where the Bears need to make particular use of Jeffery is the red zone. They're last in the NFL, averaging only 15.9 points per game, and Jeffery has yet to reach the end zone. The longest he'd gone in a season without a touchdown previously was four games in the middle of last season.

Soft-tissue injuries kept Jeffery out of seven games in 2015 and he hasn't missed a game this season, meaning so far he's checked a box for general manager Ryan Pace, who talked about Jeffery's durability at the start of training camp.

If Jeffery can finish the season strong, it's a no-brainer for the Bears to work to sign him to a long-term extension. He's earning $14.599 million with the franchise tag, and if the Bears tag him again, that would be at a price tag of more than $17.5 million in 2017.

The tag is one reason rumors this week that Jeffery could be trade bait for teams like the Eagles and Buccaneers didn't make sense. The terms of the tag prevent Jeffery from signing a new contract until after the season. It makes even less sense to consider trading Jeffery when the Bears have a critical shortage of difference-makers on their roster.

The Bears might enter 2017 still not knowing exactly what they have in former first-round draft pick Kevin White. That could give Jeffery leverage in contract talks, where he ought to be able to command an annual average salary of $14 million per year, perhaps a little more.

He said he hasn't given much thought to talk of him being dealt before Tuesday's trade deadline.

“That's just a story,” he said. “That's what you guys are supposed to do — write stories. Anybody can write stories. When you wake up in the morning, a million people say a million things about you, good or bad. You've got to just keep on pushing.”

Cutler is likely to provide Jeffery with all the push he needs to wind up with numbers at the end of the season that make a multiyear contract a good idea for the Bears.

“We want to try to find a way to get him the ball a little bit more the second half and try to get him in the end zone,” Cutler said.

Words that surely have to make Jeffery smile.

bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @BradBiggs