Ernie Accorsi

Ernie Accorsi died on 19 September 2026 at his home at age 84, passing peacefully surrounded by family, the New York Giants said on 20 September. The New York Post reported a brief battle with cancer. Tributes came from John Mara, Steve Tisch, Roger Goodell, Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, Justin Tuck and others across the NFL. Funeral and memorial details were shared privately with family and close friends as of the Giants' announcement.

Ernest William Accorsi Jr. was born on 29 October 1941 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. At Wake Forest University he worked as sports editor of the Old Gold and Black and sports director for campus radio WFDD, graduating in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and membership in Theta Chi. After U.S. Army service he covered sports for The Charlotte News, The Baltimore Sun and The Philadelphia Inquirer, then worked in the athletic departments at Saint Joseph's University and Penn State as assistant sports publicity director. Those years as a writer and publicist shaped the storytelling style colleagues later associated with his scouting reports and draft-room briefings.

Accorsi's first two GM stops framed everything that followed. In Baltimore (1982 to 1983) he confronted the John Elway draft standoff and resigned before the Colts left for Indianapolis. In Cleveland (1985 to 1992) he selected Bernie Kosar and took the Browns to three AFC Championship Games against Elway's Broncos. Fuller detail appears in the dedicated Colts and Browns sections on this page.

Accorsi joined the Giants in 1994 under George Young and became general manager in 1998. Over nine seasons as GM the Giants won NFC East titles in 2000 and 2005, made four playoff trips, and reached Super Bowl XXXV. In 2004 he traded Philip Rivers plus additional picks to San Diego for Eli Manning, then hired Tom Coughlin. He drafted Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Chris Snee, Mathias Kiwanuka and Brandon Jacobs and signed free agents including Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce. He retired after 2006, insisting the roster was ready for his successor Jerry Reese. The Giants won Super Bowls XLII and XLVI with Manning as MVP of both games, validating Accorsi's draft-day conviction.

Accorsi earned his degree from Wake Forest in 1963. Campus media work and Theta Chi membership framed an early public voice that he later carried into NFL press boxes and war rooms. He served in the U.S. Army before returning fully to sports journalism and college athletics administration, a path that gave him unusual breadth when he entered the league office and team front offices.

Accorsi joined the Baltimore Colts as public relations director in 1970, worked on Pete Rozelle's NFL staff from 1975, and returned to Baltimore as assistant general manager in 1977. Promoted to GM in 1982, he inherited a team that went 0-8-1 in the strike year and held the first overall pick. He prepared to draft John Elway and demanded a heavy price from other clubs. Elway's refusal to play for Baltimore, and Bob Irsay's unilateral trade to Denver, became one of Accorsi's defining frustrations. He resigned after 1983, before the Colts moved to Indianapolis. He often recalled seeing Johnny Unitas throw his first pass in a Colt uniform in Hershey and his last while Accorsi worked for the club.

Art Modell hired Accorsi in 1985 as executive vice president and general manager. Accorsi selected Bernie Kosar in the supplemental draft and built Browns teams that made five playoff appearances and reached the AFC Championship Game in 1986, 1987 and 1989, losing each time to Elway's Broncos. He resigned in 1992. Those Cleveland years cemented his reputation as a quarterback evaluator and as an executive willing to take calculated risks for franchise passers.

At the 2004 draft the Chargers took Manning first overall while the Giants sat at four. Accorsi and Coughlin wanted Manning. After San Diego selected him, the Giants took Philip Rivers and completed a trade sending Rivers, a 2004 third-round pick, and 2005 first- and fifth-round picks to San Diego for Manning. Accorsi's college report ended, "These guys are rare, you know." Tom Coughlin later called it one of the great moves in Giants history, noting Accorsi "shut the door" and made the call himself. Eli Manning said he phoned Accorsi every draft week for more than a decade to thank him for believing in him.

After leaving the Giants Accorsi stayed in demand. He advised the Carolina Panthers after Marty Hurney's firing in 2012, helped the Chicago Bears' GM search that produced Ryan Pace, assisted the Detroit Lions' search for Bob Quinn and remained a special adviser in Detroit, returned to help the Giants replace Jerry Reese, and aided the Arizona Cardinals' hiring of Kliff Kingsbury. He also served as co-chair of the NFL's General Managers Advisory Committee and worked as an NFL Network analyst for the 2008 Senior Bowl.

Accorsi entered the Giants Ring of Honor on 14 November 2016 with Tom Coughlin and Justin Tuck, becoming only the second general manager so honored. Wake Forest inducted him into its Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. He received a Super Bowl XLII championship ring despite having retired before that season. He served on the panel that selected the Top 100 Players in Giants history.

Accorsi's children Michael, Sherlyn and Patrick survived him and issued a family statement thanking the Colts, Browns and Giants organizations, and especially John Mara, Ronnie Barnes and the late Wellington Mara. "Once a Giant, always a Giant," the family wrote. Colleagues remembered his loyalty, punchlines and love of an audience. He prized relationships across the league as much as roster construction.

Across the Colts, Browns and Giants, Accorsi's teams won a combined 143 regular-season and postseason games in his GM years, with nine playoff teams and six division titles in his last 16 seasons as a general manager. His legacy rests on quarterback conviction, from Kosar to Manning, on the Coughlin hiring, and on a generation of Giants defenders and skill players who delivered two Super Bowl titles after he stepped aside. For Giants fans he remains the executive who bet the franchise on Eli Manning and won.