Remembering Ernie Accorsi and the Role He Played in Changing the History of Sports TV

Ernie Accorsi, the longtime NFL executive who pulled off the New York Giants’ trade for Eli Manning and helped build the team that upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, died Saturday at the age of 84. Accorsi was a valuable executive for multiple NFL teams — and he also played a key role in shaping the career of one of the most recognizable names in NFL media.

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Accorsi was general manager for three teams: the Baltimore Colts (1982-83), Cleveland Browns (1985-92) and the Giants (1998-2006).

With the Giants, Accorsi hired Super Bowl-winning head coach Tom Coughlin in January 2004. Three months later, he made the draft-day trade for Manning.

“Ernie will always be remembered, and I say this out of great respect — he’s the guy that made the trade for Eli Manning,” Coughlin said in a statement released by the Giants. “That will go down in Giants history as one of the great moves of all time. Was it risky? Sure it was risky. Ernie did it. Shut the door, went in, he did it on his own. It was his move.”

The NFL released the following statement Sunday from commissioner Roger Goodell:

“Ernie Accorsi was one of the most respected football minds in NFL history and a dear friend whose wisdom and perspective I valued tremendously. Throughout his remarkable career, he shaped championship-caliber clubs and earned the admiration of everyone who worked with him.

“Ernie’s impact extended beyond the teams he served. As co-chair of the General Managers Advisory Committee, he helped guide our game and strengthen the NFL. His integrity, common sense and commitment to doing what was best for football made him an invaluable voice.

“Ernie was thoughtful, humble, and he cared deeply about the people in our league. He never lost sight of the relationships that make football special and we will all greatly miss him.”

After beginning his NFL career as a public relations man with the Colts in the early ‘70s, Accorsi became the team’s assistant general manager in 1977 before ascending to GM in 1982. And that’s when he made his indirect impact on the future of football media.

Accorsi had developed a working relationship with a 22-year-old kid from Baltimore who was creating scouting reports on NFL draft prospects. This was before the draft was ever a big deal on TV and there was certainly never anyone described as a “draftnik.”

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Accorsi was impressed with the kid’s scouting reports, and he was among the first to suggest that he might make a career out of it.

The kid’s name: Mel Kiper Jr.

Kiper, of course, would become the first-ever “draft expert,” and he’s been in that role with ESPN for more than 40 years. Still, Accorsi was almost responsible for that never happening. And then he was.

Before ESPN ever hired Kiper, Accorsi offered him a job with the Colts.

“Ernie wasn’t bringing me in to be assistant GM,” Kiper told Athlon Sports in 2024. “I would have been a player personnel assistant, basically. Whatever he needed me to do is what I would have been doing.”

Kiper, who grew up a diehard Colts fan, was ready and willing to work for Accorsi. But it never happened.

Then-Colts owner Bob Irsay was at odds with the city of Baltimore over his desire to get a new stadium built. Even before Irsay moved his team under cover of darkness to Indianapolis in 1984, Accorsi saw the writing on the wall. Accorsi knew his time with the Colts was short, and he told Kiper that he would be better off not joining the Colts and focusing on his draft reports.

In other words, if the Colts didn’t leave Baltimore, we might never have known Mel Kiper Jr. Or maybe we would have known him as a Super Bowl-winning GM.

“Oh my God, I don’t know,” Kiper said. “It would have been a whole different story for me.”

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A story that Ernie Accorsi helped write.

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This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 3:15 PM.