Who Is Lainey Wilson's Husband? Meet Former NFL Player Devlin 'Duck' Hodges

Lainey Wilson said "yes" to Devlin "Duck" Hodges!

The country music star's husband is a former NFL player. He played college football at Samford University in Alabama, where he earned the nickname "Duck."

"His college football coach was like, 'You're one of the best quarterbacks I've ever worked with. And you remind me a lot of one of my favorite quarterbacks I got to work with years ago, and we called him Duck," Wilson revealed the story behind the moniker. "And so he and the team just kind of started calling him Duck."

After college, Hodges began playing professional football for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021 but was waived later that year. He later joined the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks.

In 2022, he announced his retirement from professional football.

"He was in the NFL. He tried out literally for the Steelers and made it and had a really great run with them. Went out to LA Rams and did that," Wilson gushed about Hodges on The Bobby Bones Show.

Following his retirement, Hodges moved into a new profession and started working as a real estate agent. He worked with Mossy Oak Properties in Louisiana before becoming part of the team at Myers Cobb Realtors.

Hodges and Wilson first crossed paths when they were introduced by mutual friends in Nashville in 2021.

"I was so broke when we met," the country singer shared in her Netflix documentary Lainey Wilson: Keepin' Country Cool. "And he thought I was doing a little bit better than I was. But a few weeks after we met, my sister had to Venmo me a couple hundred bucks."

They began dating afterward and maintained a relatively private relationship.

In an interview with People, the "Heart Like a Truck" songstress explained why they waited two years before going public with their romance.

"I said, 'We gonna see if you're in it for the right reasons.' Turns out, he is," Wilson said. "Somebody said how funny it was watching him high-five all of my artist friends at the ACMs, and I said, 'Those are his friends!'"

She continued, "He'll FaceTime me, and he'll be with HARDY and Morgan [Wallen] and Luke [Combs], and I'm like, 'Stop stealing all my buddies. They'll always be out golfing and drinking a beer. I don't have to convince anybody to like him. He's a very lovable person."

Although the couple likes to maintain a low-profile relationship, they made their red carpet debut at the 58th ACM Awards.

Hodges and Wilson stepped out together several times in the years thereafter, including at the 2023 and 2024 iterations of the CMA Awards.

"He knows what it's like chasing a dream because he's done that for himself," Wilson said on The Bobby Bones Show. "But I'll tell you, he is good as gold. Supports me, would never come in between anything that I'm trying to do. He's like, 'Go get it, girl.'"

Hodges and Wilson confirmed their engagement in a February 2025 Instagram post. The former quarterback popped the question on the steps of singer George Jones' mansion.

"As we pull up, I realized that there were different plans," she said of the proposal in an interview with NewsChannel 5 Nashville. "So he had it all set up. He had the candles and the picture frames, and it was, it could not have been more perfect."

After five years of dating, Hodges and Wilson exchanged vows at Ruskin Cave in Dickson on May 10.

The "Watermelon Moonshine" hitmaker told Vogue she arrived at the venue via "white horse-drawn carriage."

"I have never seen Duck smile as big as he did then," she said. "It made me feel giddy about turning the page into this next chapter of marriage. We were both anxious to say 'I do!'"