Wilhelm still aspired to return to the National Football League, believing he still had a sufficient range of skills to play at that level, and for the next three years worked out with a view to returning to the professional game, playing flag football to stay in shape and regularly throwing balls to friend Chad Carlson, a former player in the Canadian Football League. Carlson, who formerly played wide receiver for the short-lived Portland Forest Dragons of the Arena Football League (AFL), learned of a franchise coming to Portland as part of the new Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL) and he persuaded Wilhelm to join him in trying out for the team.