For fans of the New York Giants, Ernie Accorsi was the executive who led us to the promised land — twice. Though he retired from the Giants front office in 2006, the roster he built led Big Blue to win two Super Bowls in four years, in the 2007 and 2011 seasons, both times against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. He’s rightfully in the Giants Ring of Honor and, sadly, passed away on September 19 at age 84.
Accorsi had a lengthy NFL career, first serving in the front office of the then-Baltimore Colts. He was aghast when the late Bob Irsay traded John Elway to the Denver Broncos. Elway famously declared he would never play for Baltimore, opting for baseball instead, a bluff that Accorsi was willing to call. He knew Elway wasn’t going to sacrifice sports immortality — enshrinement in the Hall of Fame — to play baseball in North Carolina. He bounced around to the Browns but later made his true mark as assistant GM under George Young for the Giants in New York, succeeding Young as general manager in 1998.
The first step in building a championship-caliber team was getting the quarterback. For most of the 1990s, the Giants cycled through quarterbacks after Phil Simms, including Dave Brown, Danny Kannell, and Kent Graham. Brown was abysmal; I remember those dark days. Kerry Collins was a decent upgrade, but he wasn’t the one to take us to the promised land. Especially after one of the worst Super Bowl performances in SB 35, when the Giants were smothered by probably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, defenses of all time. Baltimore held teams to just 165 points that season, which was necessary because their offense was, well, less than middling.
"Ernie Accorsi was a man that did the right things for all the right reasons. He stood for all the right core values." @CowherCBS reflects on the life and legacy of Ernie Accorsi. pic.twitter.com/EZUqi8fcCd
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 20, 2026
Longtime NFL executive Ernie Accorsi, the architect of the Giants team that pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, has died. He was 84. https://t.co/RHbckJLiPL
— ESPN (@espn) September 20, 2026
Very fitting Ernie Accorsi anecdote from my story on the 15-year anniversary of the draft trade from Eli Manning. Ernie can rest easy that his legacy is secured: https://t.co/vU1pfuFCo9 pic.twitter.com/tDS880tJ6x
— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) September 20, 2026
Coming off a horrific 4-12 season in 2003, which led to the firing of Jim Fassel, Accorsi hired Tom Coughlin, who had also been fired by Jacksonville, as the next head coach, and grabbed a kid named Eli Manning out of Ole Miss. He later drafted Osi Umeniyora, Mathias Kiwanuka, and Justin Tuck to anchor the defense; Brandon Jacobs to give the Giants the foundation for their ground game, which would become Earth, Wind, and Fire with Ahmad Bradshaw and Derrick Ward. In the trenches, he signed Kareem McKenzie from the Jets, drafted Chris Snee, Coughlin’s son-in-law, and Shaun O’Hara. At linebacker, some kid named Antonio Pierce and the ever-important wide receiver free-agent addition, Plaxico Burress.
Jerry Reese, who succeeded Accorsi, saw the Super Bowl wins, but the roster was Ernie’s. Reese did a piss-poor job maintaining it, turning a Porsche into a Prius in less than a generation. One thing Accorsi did well was media relations, since he was a former journalist. It’s a quality anyone in the New York Giants front office must have, as the media are brutal for most NFC East teams.
Well known that Ernie Accorsi refused to trade Osi Umenyiora in the Eli Manning trade
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) September 21, 2026
Crazy that he had stood strong on a year 2 Osi coming off a 1 sack 3 TFL rookie season.
7 sacks the next season. 1st team All-Pro the year after that.
.@EliManning revealed on ESPN he would call Ernie Accorsi before every draft to thank him for bringing him to New York. #BigBlue
— WBG84 (@WBG84) September 21, 2026
Upon his passing, future Hall of Famer Eli Manning said that before every draft he would call Ernie Accorsi and thank him for bringing him to New York; Manning was drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers, but a bad dinner with the front office and coaching staff led to #10 famously declaring he would not play for the franchise.
It worked out to say the least.
