About 100 football players wearing the Washington NFL team’s burgundy and gold will converge on Richmond this Thursday to commence preseason drills.

Few will be more scrutinized than second-year running back Matt Jones.

Wearing the No. 31 jersey, Jones is No. 1 on the depth chart after backing up Alfred Morris as a 2015 rookie.

Jones climbed a peg when Morris left after four notable seasons with Washington to sign a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys.

By his own account, Jones’ first NFL season was a roller coaster of “highs and lows.”

The highs included 123 yards and two touchdowns rushing against the St. Louis Rams, and 131 yards receiving against the Buffalo Bills.

The lows were five fumbles — four lost — in just 163 touches and missing the final three games with a hip injury.

Last year, Jones essentially rode in the sidecar beside Morris. Now he’s at the wheel with his foot on the gas.

“I felt like if I had a bad game, the next game I wasn’t going to get many carries,” he told the Washington Post following an off-season workout in Northern Virginia.

“If I had a good game, I felt like I had to put so much pressure on myself to have a good game again. It was a lot of highs and lows.”

Overall Jones, who wears a helmet with a tinted facemask and shield, raced for 490 yards on 144 carries (a so-so 3.4 yards per carry) and snagged 19 passes for 304 yards.

At 6-foot-2 and a powerful 232 pounds, Jones has the oomph to pound the middle for rugged yards inside.

Timed at the NFL Combine at 4.61 seconds in the 40-yard dash, he has top high gear to bust some long gainers.

An impressive combination of size and speed, Jones was Washington’s third round draft pick in 2014 following an injury-plagued career at the University of Florida, where he had a torn meniscus and lingering virus.

He left Florida after his junior year, never fulfilling his potential as a Gator.

Washington cares little about what Jones has done in the past; it’s all about what he can generate now in what appears to be a high-octane attack.

“I definitely want to show … that I’m capable of being a No. 1 back all the time,” he told the Post.

“That’s the approach I take every day I touch the field — to be great. Not necessarily to show people, but I want to be great for myself, always.”

To become even close to “great,” he’ll need to address the fumbling woes.

He has been practicing with a HIGHandTIGHT football that beeps when a player’s not gripping it securely.

He has studied video of former NFL runner Tiki Barber, a Blacksburg native and University of Virginia gridiron standout who was famous for ball security late in his career as the New York Giant’s workhorse.

Also, Jones believes he’ll be less error prone with the confidence of knowing he’s the main man and not looking over his shoulder to the sidelines.

After three years backing up Robert Griffin III, quarterback Kirk Cousins emerged as a force in the 2015 season, tossing for 4,166 yards and 26 touchdowns as Washington won the NFL Eastern Division title.

Cousins’ targets include luminaries DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garçon and Jordan Reed. Now add top draft choice Josh Doctson to Cousins’ menu.

Earlier this spring, Washington toyed with signing free agent Arian Foster, but the former Houston All-Pro opted for a deal with Miami.

So it’s Jones with little-used Chris Thompson, a fifth-round draftee in 2013, behind him.

Jones’ rookie status, backup role and tinted, Darth Vader-style facemask allowed him a degree of anonymity a year ago. Now there will be no more lurking in the shadows.

That’s why many eyeballs will be focused on No. 31 at the Bon Secours Training Center.