I did not take over the New York Giants beat for NorthJersey.com and The Record until five years after Ernie Accorsi retired as general manager. My phone conversations and email exchanges with Accorsi often centered on what became the centerpiece of a decorated football legacy – his belief in Eli Manning.
There were only a select few interviews, given our relationship developed at a time when one of the most important executives in the 102-year history of the Giants preferred to lay as low as possible as to not to bring attention to himself, especially with all the losing the organization had to endure over the past decade-plus.
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Upon hearing the sad news that Accorsi had died at the age of 84 on Saturday night following a brief battle with cancer, I wondered: why did it feel like I had known Accorsi personally for years, even though admittedly I did not?
That’s who Accorsi was always, if you were lucky enough to gain his trust: a good man and a remarkable storyteller who could jump from Joe DiMaggio to Johnny Unitas, from John Elway to Manning, and not because he wanted to drop names, but because the context was real.
The last phone call I had with Accorsi was in January 2025, and he was getting excited for the prospects of Manning making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He told me he had few regrets when it comes to Manning and his time with the New York Giants. But, with a laugh, Accorsi shared what he called the biggest one that happened a few weeks after Super Bowl XLII when Manning and the Giants upset Tom Brady and the 18-1 Patriots.
Accorsi recalled being at dinner in a Florida steakhouse with friends, one being Hall of Fame baseball manager Tony La Russa, and they would often battle over their sports opinions with neither backing down.
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On that night back in 2008, La Russa went for the jugular, telling Accorsi that Manning would eventually be forgotten as just another quarterback with a famous last name if he didn’t win at least one more Super Bowl. The insinuation: his first that shocked the sports world a few weeks earlier was a fluke.
That, of course, did not sit well with Accorsi, who barked back about how Manning deserved the same respect and appreciation given to Joe Namath – since Manning and Namath had won the two biggest Super Bowls of all time.
What turned into a heated exchange continued until Accorsi grabbed a pen and wrote on a napkin: “Tony, Eli isn’t going to win just one. He’s going to win more than or as many as his brother [Peyton].”
“I’m keeping this napkin,” La Russa promised, but as the rest of the evening played out, Accorsi’s scribbled Namath-like guarantee never made it out of Morton’s Steakhouse in West Palm Beach.
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“Nobody knows where that napkin is, but know this: I’m the fool who didn’t put any money on that bet,” Accorsi recalled with a laugh for NorthJersey.com and The Record for that column. “I know Eli belongs. It’s going to happen. You know, Joe DiMaggio wasn’t first ballot, either. He belongs in the Hall of Fame and he’ll get there.”
The search for a franchise QB: How do you know?
I have not forgotten our lengthy 2018 phone conversation that centered on the conviction he gained in his detailed college evaluation of Manning while at Ole Miss. Accorsi told me to call him at his New York City in between media sessions at the NFL’s Scouting Combine, and while I walked the corridors leading to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, I could not write the notes down fast enough.
More than a decade after the Giants made their move and traded up on draft day to select Manning, he was still their quarterback ‒ two Super Bowl MVP trophies and a journey filled with plenty of twists and turns later.
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And I needed to know something from Accorsi, the man who engineered the franchise-altering deal for a quarterback he believed in, well before anyone else at the Giants did. His career was defined by success as GM for three storied franchises: the Baltimore Colts (1982-83), the Cleveland Browns (1985-92) and the Giants (1998-2006).
“When do you know when a guy is a franchise quarterback?” Accorsi quipped, repeating the first question of that interview for The Record and NorthJersey.com that day. “It sounds funny, I’m telling you, it sounds smart, but you just do. There are no guarantees that you’re going to be right, but it’s a feeling. You do the work. You do all the homework. Then you trust what you see, what you feel, what you believe and you convince everyone else that you’re right.”
It’s worth revisiting how that draft day trade for Manning went down, what led to Accorsi’s unwavering belief in the player, the challenge of convincing Wellington Mara that it was the right move to draft over Kerry Collins, a quarterback he loved, and the decision that went a long way toward delivering the Giants two of the four Vince Lombardi trophies on display in the lobby of their training facility.
For years, critics complained Accorsi had given up way too much in his blockbuster trade for Manning. But he always dismissed such talk by pointing to the importance of a franchise quarterback, and the difference that great players can make for any team.
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“You can’t give up too much for John Elway,” Accorsi told me. “You can’t overpay [Joe] DiMaggio. If you ever get the chance to get a quarterback you think is great, go get him. “
Accorsi believed in the late-game legend of Manning, and he did his best to sell everyone on the magic before any of it played out in the NFL. His scouting report of Manning from his time at Ole Miss became a fascinating part of Giants’ history.
A veteran scout named Milt Davis had provided Accorsi a piece of advice when both were with the Colts ‒ then with respect to Unitas ‒ that ultimately played a part in Manning landing with Big Blue.
“What I learned about how you judge a quarterback [from Davis]: Can he take the team down the field with the championship on the line and get it in the end zone?” Accorsi recalled.
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Then, with a nod to that famous scouting report, selling the Giants on Manning, Accorsi repeated without hesitation: “In my opinion, most of all, he has that quality you can’t define. Call it magic.”
Accorsi and Tom Coughlin were sold. Either Manning or Ben Roethlisberger would be the target.
Wellington Mara needed to be convinced that it was time to move on from Collins, who helped carry The Duke’s team to the Super Bowl just four years earlier, albeit in a losing effort.
“Ernie had convinced me long before the draft that Eli was the guy. I was thrilled with that,” John Mara told NorthJersey.com and The Record in a 2016 interview. “One of the last hurdles was convincing my father on that because he did not want to give up on Kerry, and he knew if we brought in a young guy, that could mean the end [of Collins with the Giants]. Ultimately, we did what was best for the team.”
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Accorsi had met first-year Chargers general manager A.J. Smith at the league meetings in March 2004. Word began circulating around the league that Manning didn’t want to play in San Diego, and Accorsi had experience being in that position. He was a rookie GM in Baltimore with the No. 1 pick in the 1983 draft when Elway, the top QB in the class, decided he would not play for the Colts.
Back then, Accorsi did not want to be known as the man who bypassed on such a talent, so he drafted Elway anyway. Colts ownership traded Elway to the Broncos a week later.
So when he initially engaged Smith, there was a significant sticking point. The Giants were not dealing Osi Umenyiora despite repeated inquiries from the Chargers.
Fast forward to 2004 draft day and the Chargers went silent. They drafted Manning, and there was no guarantee the Giants would get another chance to consummate a deal. Accorsi told the team’s representative on site at the draft to write Roethlisberger’s name on the selection card that would be submitted to the league, just in case.
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All the while, Accorsi tried to stay optimistic that Smith would eventually come back to the Giants to re-ignite talks.
Just as the Giants were going on the clock at No. 4, Accorsi left the draft war room and headed to his office, waiting for Smith to call. If he thought they were close, the Giants would take Philip Rivers for San Diego, then make the swap for Manning. They’d take Roethlisberger otherwise.
Accorsi was joined by Wellington Mara, co-owner Bob Tisch and three of Wellington’s sons – John, Chris and Frank – and Jerry Reese, who was the director of player personnel. With about seven minutes left on the clock, the phone rang and Smith was on the other end of the line.
The Chargers ended up sending the No. 1 overall pick to the Giants in exchange for Rivers, the Giants’ third round pick in 2004 along with their first and fifth round selections in the 2005 draft.
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“So much goes into building a championship team, we all know that,” Accorsi said.
He paused before ending that phone interview with a quote that resonated as an undeniable exclamation point: “But you don’t get there without the quarterback. You need the quarterback, and if you’re right, everybody wins.”
Ernie Accorsi never wanted to talk about his own legacy. He always deferred to Giants ownership, Manning and Coughlin, among others who played a role.
But without Accorsi, the Giants would have not drafted the best quarterback they have ever had.
Manning revealed Sunday that he made it a habit to call Accorsi the week of the NFL Draft in the years since, just to offer his gratitude for believing in his talent and everything that went into the evaluation that changed everything.
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“RIP Ernie Accorsi. Thank you for making me a New York Giant,” Manning wrote on social media shortly after the team announced the news of Accorsi’s passing.
“Ernie helped shape the course of New York Giants history through his vision, leadership and unwavering belief in building a championship organization,” John Mara said in a statement Sunday. “Beyond his accomplishments as a football executive, he was a trusted advisor and dear friend. His legacy will forever be part of the Giants, and he will be greatly missed.”
As we talked through the Hall of Fame debate over Manning’s candidacy, I brought up the topic of his own legacy John Mara has continuously lauded over the years, and rightfully so.
“Honestly, Art, I don’t really think about my legacy. That’s not for me to decide,” Accorsi told me. “I did my best to make the New York Giants the best they could be.”
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He paused before adding: “What I will say: Eli Manning turned out to be everything I thought, and then some. I did my best, and if that’s what people I respect say about me, I’m good with that.”
The iconic scouting report. The draft day resolve. The trade itself.
Oh, and that guarantee scribbled on that steakhouse napkin for La Russa.
Make no mistake: Ernie Accorsi was a Giant in every sense of the word, and all that the franchise has always stood for.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ernie Accorsi, a Giant in every sense with a franchise-changing legacy
