Whereas many NFL stars dominate on the soccer area, it’s their wives, fiancées and girlfriends who typically run the present at dwelling.
Followers have since referred to this elite group of girls as “WAGs,” a shorthand for “wives and girlfriends” that grew in reputation because of E!’s three-season WAGS docuseries in 2015. Netflix went on to launch its W.A.G.s. to Riches sequence in 2025, additional propelling the notoriety of the moniker. Lots of the ladies themselves, nevertheless, seldom use the label.
“I don’t prefer it as a result of I feel it has a severe unfavourable connotation connected,” Kylie Kelce, who has been married to retired Philadelphia Eagles middle Jason Kelce since 2018, mentioned on the “Name Her Daddy” podcast in February 2025. “I feel it’s the suggestion that your partner’s career swallows you up, as effectively.”
She added, “Each Jason and I’ve made a severe effort to be sure that, whereas he was taking part in, it was clear that was his job in the identical means that somebody would go to work and are available dwelling and never essentially discuss their total day [of] submitting taxes and doing spreadsheets.”
Kylie shouldn’t be alone in her hesitance to name herself a “WAG.” Preserve scrolling for extra NFL companions’ ideas concerning the time period:
Kelly Stafford
Kelly has been married to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford since 2015 after initially assembly in school on the College of Georgia.
“I’m detached to [the term], it’s sort of no matter,” Kelly mentioned on the “Straight Up With Stassi” podcast in February 2024. “We’re. We’re wives and girlfriends of whoever.”
In line with Kelly, she’s additionally by no means heard one other NFL partner use the time period “WAG.”
“I’m actually previous, so perhaps the younger women do,” Kelly mentioned on the time. “I’m by far the oldest one. I feel I’m most likely the oldest WAG there’s, it’s actually unhappy. Welcome to my life, being the previous bitch within the room.”
Kylie Cole
Kylie, a professional volleyball participant, can also be the spouse of Las Vegas Raiders punter AJ Cole.
“I do know it’s meant to simply shorten ‘wives and girlfriends’ as a result of it’s loads of syllables [and] I get it. However, I can’t take it critically, like, I’m not going to [say], like, ‘I’m a WAG,’” Kylie mentioned on the “Sunday Sports activities Membership” podcast in October 2024. “Simply know if I’m ever utilizing the phrase ‘WAG’ in any respect, I’m not being severe.”
She added, “[It] doesn’t discuss with the group of women, like, we’re like, ‘We’re the wives and the girlfriends.’ Or, ‘We’re the ladies of the Raiders,’ that’s normally what I say. Yesterday we had the Raiders ladies’s brunch, and in order that’s what I’m going to name it — not the ‘WAGs brunch.’ I simply can’t. It’s simply so tacky.”
NFL gamers depend on their linemen to guard them on the sector. Off of it, it’s their wives and girlfriends who’ve stepped as much as clap again when followers have gotten out of line. That features among the most well-known WAGs within the league right this moment. Kylie Kelce, spouse of former Philadelphia Eagles middle Jason […]
Allison Kuch
Kuch was by husband Isaac Rochell’s facet as he performed for the Los Angeles Chargers, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts and Las Vegas Raiders, respectively, earlier than he retired in 2025.
“The present WAGS got here out on E! like two years earlier than Isaac acquired drafted and I used to be like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to outlive this,’” she mentioned on a February 2025 episode of her “Sunday Sports activities Membership” podcast. “I used to be like, ‘I’m simply going to be clear. I’ll simply sit within the again, but it surely’s far more widespread to be chill and relaxed — and [wear] designer now and again.”
She added, “I’m attempting to take again the ‘WAG’ time period to not be like uptight and bougie, however, like, chill and low-key.”
Kylie Kelce
Kylie infamously matched with Jason on Tinder throughout her closing 12 months of faculty after he was drafted by the Eagles. As soon as it turned clear he was The One, she was hesitant to inform her household about his career resulting from preexisting stereotypes.
“[There] is that stigma of ‘you’re with them as a result of they make some huge cash’ otherwise you need designer baggage otherwise you dwell in a mansion,” Kylie mentioned on “Name Her Daddy” in 2025. “It’s, like, no.”
She added, “My dad was the final particular person I wished to search out out as a result of I knew he can be like, ‘You’re not a bimbo.’ His dad [mode] very a lot overwhelmed the thrill of that [Jason’s] an Eagle. My dad could be very a lot a lady dad, like, protecting and going to just be sure you maintain your self the correct means. He additionally at all times advised my sister and I, ‘Don’t ever be depending on the particular person you’re with.’”
Kylie works as a highschool area hockey coach — she performed the game rising up — earlier than launching her “Not Gonna Lie” podcast in 2024. The podcast rapidly turned the No. 1 present available in the market, even topping Jason and his brother Travis Kelce’s “New Heights.”
Getty Photographs/Courtesy of Allison Kuch/Instagram Not each NFL athlete is signing a multimillion-dollar contract to play professional soccer, leaving their households to complement their revenue elsewhere. “I’ll simply set the document straight: We’ve got a number of sources of revenue that we’ve constructed over the previous seven years,” Allison Kuch, who’s married to free agent Isaac […]
Bryce Watts Hansen
Bryce, whose husband Chad Hansen retired in 2022, mentioned in a January 2025 TikTok video that the majority NFL wives didn’t declare the time period “till a couple of months in the past.”
“It virtually took the ‘soiled’ sense out of it,” Bryce mentioned, referring to a then–current Glamour journal headline. “I might by no means say the time period ‘WAG’ as a result of it virtually felt pretentious in a means. It was like, ‘Who gave you the correct [and] the audacity to name your self that? You’re simply there.’”
Bryce had at all times appreciated the time period as a result of it “summarized” her partner’s profession in just some letters.
Jackie Tranquill
Jackie mentioned on a 2025 episode of Kuch’s podcast that she was “so nervous” to fulfill the opposite NFL companions when her husband, Drue Tranquill, was drafted by the Chargers. (Drue now performs with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.)
“I assumed the ‘WAGs’ have been going to be like they’re on TV and I used to be like, ‘I’m not going to slot in,’” Jackie mentioned. “Then, I met everybody and I used to be like, ‘Oh, y’all are similar to me.’ We’re regular individuals.”
Niki Mailata
Niki is married to Jordan Mailata of the Eagles.
“I say [WAG] though I, sort of, hate the time period,” she mentioned on Kuch’s podcast in 2025. “It’s a lot simpler to say. … It’s a enjoyable group.”
