Inside ex-NFL QB Duck Hodges’ wedding to Grammy winner Lainey Wilson — and how their starry relationship began

Four years after retiring from football, Duck Hodges is off the free agent market.

The former Steelers quarterback married “Yellowstone” star Lainey Wilson on May 10 at the base of a waterfall at the Ruskin Cave in Dickson, Tenn.

“You could hear the water trickling down and birds singing, and we had a nice spring breeze,” Wilson, also a Grammy-winner singer-songwriter, told Vogue.

Devlin Hodges and Lainey Wilson attend the 2025 CMA Awards. WireImage

The wedding was the culmination of their five years as a couple, after they were set up on a blind date in Nashville.

What started as a lakeside dinner at Moby Dick’s transitioned to honkytonk bar Silverado’s, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“We’ve been pretty inseparable since,” Wilson, 33, told the outlet. 

Hodges decided to make it forever in February 2025, when he proposed on the doorstep of legendary country musician George Jones’ estate in Franklin, Tenn., setting the scene with rose petals and pictures of them together. 

“We love George Jones, and he knew it would mean a lot to me to do it right there on George’s front porch,” Wilson said.

While the wedding certainly had its country flair — Hodges was decked out in a custom suit with a bolo tie, cowboy boots and cowboy hat — Wilson made sure to get some of her roots into the festivities, as well.

“We tried not to take ourselves too seriously. Being from Louisiana, I wanted to bring in a little bit of Cajun flair, so naturally we hired a 12-piece jazz band called Rebirth and had a Cajun meal from the chefs at my bar, Bell Bottoms Up,” Wilson, who departed from her usual look of denim bell bottoms for a custom Oscar de la Renta dress adorned with Japanese cherry blossoms, told Vogue.

For Hodges, it’s the latest big move in his post-football career. The 30-year-old — born Devlin, nicknamed “Duck” for his duck-calling abilities — was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2019 after winning the Walter Payton Award as a senior at Samford. His storied NCAA career saw him break former NFL MVP Steve McNair’s records for completions and pass attempts.

Injuries to Pittsburgh starter Ben Roethlisberger and backup Mason Rudolph saw Hodges get his big NFL break, getting into eight games — starting six — as a rookie, going 3-3 and completing 100 of his 160 pass attempts for 1,063 yards with five touchdowns and eight interceptions. 

Devlin Hodges #6 of the Pittsburgh Steelers hands the ball off to Benny Snell #24 during a game against the New York Jets on Dec. 22, 2019. for the NY POST

He was released by the Steelers and rejoined their practice squad for the 2020 season, and signed a reserve/future contract with the Rams before being released in August 2021.

Hodges went north, joining the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks on a three-year deal the following month, but struggled to find consistency over four games.

In April 2022, he retired from pro football.

He’s since transitioned to live as a realtor and entrepreneur, founding Club Country— a golf brand “for the outdoorsman”  — and now, a married man.

“I have never seen Duck smile as big as he did then,” Wilson said of her walk down the aisle. “It made me feel giddy about turning the page into this next chapter of marriage. We were both anxious to say ‘I do!’”