Who is Kenny Pickett’s wife, Amy? Carolina Panthers QB’s partner is former Princeton soccer star

Kenny Pickett is hoping to get his NFL career back on track.

The veteran quarterback is in line to start under center for the Carolina Panthers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game against the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday.

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The opposing quarterback will be Carson Beck, who will be making his pro debut.

For Pickett, it will be a chance to prove that he isn’t a bust, having gone from being a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft to a league journeyman, having signed with four teams in five seasons.

The 28-year-old who is currently the back up to former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, is, however, a Super Bowl winner, having been the backup to Jalen Hurts at the Philadelphia Eagles in his lone season with the team in 2024.

Having played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns (practice squad only), Las Vegas Raiders, and now the Panthers in as many years, it’s very difficult for families of NFL players to just uproot their lives and follow their partner or whomever around the country.

The wives and girlfriends of NFL players should therefore get more credit than they perhaps do.

For Pickett’s wife Amy (née Paternoster), though, it is unclear whether she is able to follow her husband around the country due to her high-profile job in finance.

How did they meet, and how long have they been together?

The two reportedly go way back having crossed paths in their hometown near the Jersey shore at the gym as teenagers.

“We worked out at the same place growing up because Amy played soccer and I played football,” Pickett told PEOPLE magazine back in 2023.

“We started training at this place when I was like 12 years old and Amy might have been 10, so I knew her growing up from there.”

Their love for sports, with Amy growing up playing soccer, saw their friendship groups collide.

Instagram / amypickett_

Instagram / amypickett_

“As we’ve both grown up in the sports world, especially more with Kenny with Pittsburgh and football, he’s acquired great friendships along the way, as have I,” Paternoster shared.

As Pickett went on to play college football at Pittsburgh, Amy would eventually go on to play soccer at Princeton University, where she recorded five goals and six assists for the Tigers between 2018 and 2021.

During her time there, she was also awarded the Academic All-Ivy.

Love between the two didn’t blossom immediately, with them not getting to really know each until a college break.

“We never talked and then she went off to Princeton and I went to Pitt. We came home on a college break and saw each other at a party and hit it off,” Pickett told PEOPLE.

Since then, though, the two have been inseparable, and wed just two years later in 2023.

Instagram / amypickett_

In fact, Steelers chaplain Kent Chevalier officiated the couple’s nuptials.

What does Amy do for work?

In addition to playing soccer at Princeton, Amy also graduated with honors, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and a certificate in finance.

During her time at college, she also held multiple high-profile finance internships, including at Citi and Goldman Sachs.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she is now a Private Equity Senior Associate at Riverarch Equity Partners based in Pittsburgh, where she has been based for four years.

Although she appears to have settled down in Pennsylvania for work, she can often be seen supporting her husband whenever she can, taking to Instagram often to share snaps of the two, usually sharing eachother’s milestones like birthdays.