Longtime exec Accorsi, architect of Giants' historic SB team, dies at 84 — SkimNews
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- Ernie Accorsi died Saturday at age 84, surrounded by family, with the Giants announcing his death Sunday; owner John Mara called him a "trusted advisor and dear friend."
- Accorsi served as Giants GM from 1998 to 2006, building the core of a team that reached three Super Bowls and won two Lombardi Trophies.
- Accorsi executed the blockbuster 2004 draft-day trade for quarterback Eli Manning, a move Tom Coughlin said "will go down in Giants history as one of the great moves of all time."
- Accorsi also drafted franchise icons Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Chris Snee and Brandon Jacobs, and hired two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom Coughlin in 2004.
- Accorsi previously served as GM of the Cleveland Browns from 1985 to 1992 and the Baltimore Colts from 1982 to 1983, and was a Wake Forest graduate.
- Accorsi retired in 2006 — one year before the Giants upset the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII and beat them again four years later in Super Bowl XLVI.
- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called Accorsi "one of the most respected football minds in NFL history" in a statement.
Why it matters: Accorsi's personnel blueprint — most notably the Eli Manning trade and the drafting of core defensive players — produced the Giants' last two championship rosters, and his death removes the architect whose fingerprints remained on the franchise nearly two decades after his 2006 retirement.
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