INDIANAPOLIS — Will Mallory’s rookie season did not get off to a good start.

Mallory injured his foot during rookie minicamp, sat out the entire Colts offseason program, finally got healthy at the start of training camp and then pulled a hamstring a week later, forcing him to miss another two weeks.

Not exactly an ideal start for a rookie competing for playing time at one of the deepest positions on the roster.

Mallory seemed like a candidate for the NFL’s version of a redshirt, developing in practice but inactive most Sundays. Even with a two-catch, 49-yard performance against the Texans in Week 2, Mallory was a healthy scratch in four of the first five games.

“A lot of my reps, I wasn’t with the offense,” Mallory said. “I was with the scout team. They say you’ve got to take advantage of all of these reps.”

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Coaches keep repeating that mantra because the NFL has a funny way of shifting on the fly.

For starters, Jelani Woods — the player the Colts expected to be their No. 1 tight end — has not played this season, unable to overcome a raft of hamstring injuries. A minor injury here, a minor injury there, and suddenly a deep tight end room needed a little extra help.

Opportunity had appeared for the fifth-round pick, the grandson of longtime Indiana head coach Bill Mallory.

And he’d used his time on the scout team to confirm his first impression of how he fit in the NFL.

“Back in camp — I missed all of OTAs, so that was my first experience with the NFL — I felt it,” Mallory said. “Again, it’s the highest level, but I remember, I felt like I belonged, so as the year’s gone on, I’ve gotten more comfortable, more confident.”

Mallory kept making plays.

The rookie now has 18 catches for 207 yards this season, trailing only Kylen Granson in both categories among tight ends, even though he’s played just 157 snaps so far this season.

“He has done a heck of a job,” Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen said. “To see that development from a young player, progress throughout the year, it’s huge. It’s a testament to him and how he prepares, and also Tom Manning, our tight end coach, getting him ready to play.”

Mallory has done a few good things as a blocker, but he’s mostly a receiving option, a reality driven home by the fact that Mallory played just nine snaps against the Raiders on Sunday, even though the Colts were down to three tight ends due to Drew Ogletree’s arrest for felony domestic battery last week.

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The rookie caught one pass for 19 yards in those nine snaps, continuing to make plays in a role that’s similar to Granson’s, although not exactly the same.

Mallory has done most of his work over the middle of the field, finding holes in zones and beating defenders across the field on crossing routes.

“Will is doing a good job when his number is called,” offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said. “You sort of look up and he’s making some plays, making some catches. Sometimes it’s within the pass route that’s called … sometimes it’s moving with the quarterback or hanging in there with the quarterback as the quarterback moves.”

Mallory’s essentially making the same plays he made at Miami.

“I was able to do that, run after the catch, extend drives,” Mallory said. “It’s a role in this offense that I really enjoy a lot.”

A role it was hard to envision Mallory playing when the season began.

Fifth-round picks who battle injuries early in their rookie season often end up on injured reserve, on special teams.

Mallory kept working, kept finding ways to improve, kept getting himself ready.

The coaching staff eventually noticed the rookie’s improvement.

“He’s learning a ton every week,” Cooter said. “He’s learning new stuff, and maybe goes out to practice and gets a rep, and it’s not perfect, and then he learns from it, and the next it’s better, and then you look up in the game and he’s made that catch, he’s gotten open on that route.”

Indianapolis ended up needing Mallory more than anybody realized at the start of the season.

And the Colts have been encouraged by the resilience he's shown as a rookie, resilience that fits an Indianapolis team that keeps finding ways to win despite an ongoing list of injuries and obstacles.

“Whatever they ask of me, I’m willing to do,” Mallory said.

That’s how Mallory fought his way back off the inactive list and into the lineup.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts: How tight end Will Mallory turned around his rookie season