Three of the greatest running backs of this generation switched teams in recent weeks, with Jamaal Charles, Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch donning new uniforms. But history says that when a great running back’s longtime club says it’s time to say goodbye, the team is usually right.

Since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, 10 Hall of Fame backs have switched teams at age 30 (though Earl Campbell was actually traded at age 29). None gained 1,000 yards, a figure that Lynch, Charles and Peterson have surpassed 18 times, with Peterson totaling 2,097 in 2012.

So don’t worry about trying to get your head around highlights of Charles in a Denver Broncos uniform, Peterson sporting the fleur-de-lis of the New Orleans Saints and Lynch in the Raiders’ Silver and Black. There aren’t likely to be many. Thurman Thomas (2000 Dolphins), Franco Harris (1984 Seahawks) and Emmitt Smith (2003 Cardinals) failed to top 256 yards in their debut with their new clubs. That wasn’t even a game’s work when Charles (259-yard game in 2009) and Peterson (296 in 2007) were in their primes.

Denver and New Orleans would be thrilled if the injury-plagued Charles and Peterson approached LaDainian Tomlinson’s year with the Jets, which ended in the conference championship. Lynch didn’t even play in 2016.

All three clubs have failed when travelling down this road before. In 1988, 34-year-old Tony Dorsett was unable to carry the running game with John Elway as his quarterback and Denver failed to make the playoffs after reaching the Super Bowl the two previous seasons. Campbell’s reunion in New Orleans with his former Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips ended with Phillips getting fired and Campbell unable to wrestle the majority of carries away from unheralded fullback Wayne Wilson. When the Raiders tried to turn back the clock with Eric Dickerson in 1992, they failed to make the playoffs for the first time in three years. Coming off a 12-4 season, Oakland hopes Beast Mode somehow can resurface.