As the ongoing labor dispute continues, even now as the lockout has been lifted, we will continue to focus our attention strictly on the draft. The major news outlets do a great job of explaining the uncharted waters the league is currently in, and frankly it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the ramifications of Judge Nelson denying a “stay” as expected. So we will keep our focus on the draft, while the league potentially turns to chaos.

We’ve talked all offseason about players like Mark Ingram, Mike Pouncey, and Ryan Mallett. Players that would fill pressing needs for the Dolphins if taken in Thursday’s first round. But it’s important to keep an open mind when dealing with this front office. Last year’s draft should have taught us our lesson.

In 2010, most of the pre-draft speculation centered on outside linebacker, nose tackle, and free safety prospects. What did the Dolphins do? Only shock us all by taking defensive end Jared Odrick with Randy Starks, Kendall Langford, and Phillip Merling already on the roster.

The next day we learned that the Dolphins planned on moving Randy Starks to nose tackle, which rationalized the pick. Ultimately, though, that decision didn’t last as Starks was forced back over to end due to injuries to Merling and Odrick, and Paul Soliai went on to blossom at nose.

The point being, don’t limit your expectations for what the Dolphins will do with their first-round pick, whenever it will be made. It’s clear that Jeff Ireland prefers the best player available strategy early on, and in the event that the Dolphins are unable to trade down, I doubt he would be willing to reach for a player that would fill a need but doesn’t grade out as a mid-first round prospect on his board.

It’s important to keep in mind that the Dolphins’ board could drastically differ from the experts’ projections. For example, just because Ryan Mallett doesn’t grade out as a first-round pick to Mel Kiper, the Dolphins could easily have him ranked near the top of their board. But there are several prospects that aren’t being discussed among Dolphins fans that could easily be on Ireland’s radar. Without further ado, here are the top five prospects the Dolphins could surprise us with tomorrow night.

1. Aldon Smith, OLB, Missouri: I’ve seen some Dolphins’ writers and bloggers pencil in Robert Quinn as the pass rusher the front office could surprisingly take in round one. I highly doubt Quinn falls all the way to the 15th pick, though. Aldon Smith, on the other hand, is a realistic option if the Dolphins decide to forgo addressing their offensive needs in the first and attempt to sure up their pass rush opposite Cameron Wake instead. Smith has all the tools to be a double-digit sack guy at the next level and could potentially be the last piece to an elite defense in Miami.

2. Gabe Carimi, OT, Wisconsin: We all know the Dolphins need to upgrade the interior offensive line, but if Carimi is the best player available when they select at 15, Vernon Carey’s time in Miami may be numbered. Carey has been a very solid starter for the Dolphins for seven years now, but has had a difficult time staying healthy lately and has seemingly lost a step or two. He’s also compensated fairly well; possibly a little too much for the Dolphins’ liking. Carimi is a good all-around tackle that could potentially be ready to start from day one.

The Brandon Marshall stabbing this weekend is still grabbing most of the headlines related to the Dolphins on this Monday. But here at Phins Phoucs, this Monday means that draft week is finally here. There will be plenty of time to discuss the Brandon Marshall saga, but as far as I’m concerned, unless any damning evidence against him becomes known, he should be treated as strictly the victim in this case, which shouldn’t lead to the Dolphins cutting ties or the league using disciplinary action.

With that said, let’s put that discussion on hold and gear up for the most exciting week in the offseason of any sport. The Dolphins are one of the most difficult teams to put your finger on heading into Thursday’s first round. They are in such a difficult spot picking 15th overall because the players that they could take that would fill a pressing need don’t project to come off the board until later in the first, if not early in the second.

They could always take the best player available, which figures to be a defensive player or an offensive tackle, but we all know what their primary goal is. Jeff Ireland and the Dolphins desperately want to trade down in the first round and hopefully reacquire a second-round selection.

Some experts have claimed that it will be more difficult to trade down in this year’s draft because not having free agency will limit team’s flexibility. Others still remain optimistic, insisting that at least one defensive needy team will be willing to move up and snag a pass rusher.

Instead of speculating further on the matter, I decided to offer a few of the Bloguin sites that represent teams that select in the bottom half of the first round hypothetical trade request. Please welcome in Thomas Jackson from Eagles Eye and Ravens Football Machine, Andrew Judge from Saints Nation, Matthew Heuett from Seahawk Addicts, and Brett Solesky from Midway Illustrated to represent their respected teams in these trade down request. I asked the bloggers to either accept, decline, conditionally accept (name the player that must still be available at 15th overall), or offer a counter trade request.

Trade-down request A
Dolphins 15th overall pick for the Eagles 23rd (1st) and 54th (2nd) overall selections

Response: Counter Offer
The Eagles reject the original trade-down offer of Miami ... i.e., giving up a first-rounder (#23 overall) and a 2nd-rounder (#54) to move up eight spots would be against Andy Reid's classic value charts. Now change the offer to the Eagles' 1st-Rounder and two 4th-round picks, and I think Reid would consider going for it.... A #23, #104, and #120... for a #15... would fall much more closely in the neighborhood of Andy's draft value charts. Otherwise, I don't think Andy goes for the deal... we all know how Reid loves those mid-round picks!

My Counter Offer response: Declined
I don’t think moving down eight slots would be worth it for two fourth-round picks. If I were to continue the negotiating process I would counter offer with the Dolphins’ 15th overall selection for the Eagles’ 1st, 3rd, and one of their 4th round picks. If the Eagles were to accept, I would accept that deal only if the Dolphins are unable to find another partner.

As all of you are well aware by now, Brandon Marshall was stabbed late last night/early this morning by his wife Michi Nogami-Marshall, but is apparently okay and has already been released from the hospital. I caught wind of the incident before I had to go out of town for the day, so I had no time to write up a post about it until now.

The knife reportedly didn’t harm any of Marshall’s internal organs, which is extremely fortunate considering it was likely inches, if not centimeters away from possibly seriously threatening his life. Marshall’s wife was arrested by the Broward County Sherriff’s department on a domestic-violence charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, but was released on $7,500 bond this afternoon.

Those are the important details.

There will surely be plenty of he said, she said in the coming days, but right now Brandon Marshall, his family, and the entire Dolphins organization needs to count their blessings because this could have been much, much worse.

Now comes the speculation. Marshall’s wife claims she stabbed her husband out of self-defense. If you know anything about Marshall’s past, you know this isn’t the first time he’s had a domestic dispute. He’s been arrested at least three times for domestic disputes involving women, including getting arrested in Atlanta, Georgia in March 2009 for a dispute with Michi Nogami-Marshall, who was then his fiancé.

Although, Marshall has relatively behaved since being acquired by the Dolphins, his troubled past in Denver suggest he likely wasn’t simply the victim last night. But is it really fair to make that sort of assumption? Not enough details are present to know for sure.

You don’t want to completely let Marshall off the hook by saying we don’t know what really happened yet, because his wife had to be provoked to some degree. I don’t think we can jump to conclusions yet either, though, because Marshall’s wife could very well be mentally unstable enough to stab her husband over a simple fight. I guess we will have to wait for the legal process to run its course before we can make such judgments.

Luckily for Brandon at least, the police didn’t report any wounds or bruises on his wife, so it will likely be hard to prove that she was being physically threatened enough to take such a drastic measure. Marshall did, however, reportedly lie to police in a sworn testimony by saying he slipped on a vase. But that’s enough speculation for one night. The important thing is that Marshall is okay. But I’m sure the Dolphins will wrestle with the question of whether or not they did the right thing when they invested two second-round picks and $50 million in Marshall a year ago.

Peter King predicts Dolphins will take TCU’s Andy Dalton in first
Peter King is one of the most respected sports writers in the business, so when he pencils in Andy Dalton to the Dolphins 15th overall in his latest mock draft, as much of a reach as that may be, it may be time to expect the unexpected in next week’s draft. King’s inside information into Dalton’s latest visit with the Dolphins may have something to do with that prediction.

King writes that the Dolphins sent a portion of their playbook to Dalton only a few days before they were scheduled to meet with him and told him to digest every one of the 100 something formations- including all of the motions, shifts, and protections. According to Dalton, he did fairly well when tested over the playbook by the Dolphins. He didn’t think he fared quite as well on the other test offensive coordinator Brian Daboll threw at him, though.

Daboll supposedly flew into the meeting room shouting at Dalton about not getting the football thrown his way, supposedly to simulate how Dalton would handle a disgruntled receiver like, oh I don’t know, a Brandon Marshall. That’s quite the microscope the Dolphins put on Dalton, even if they do similar test to every quarterback they’ve met with in the pre-draft process. Call Peter King crazy for thinking the Dolphins could be targeting Dalton in the first round, but you have to believe he could at least become a strong possibility in the second and third rounds if Miami hasn’t drafted a quarterback yet and Dalton is still on the board.

We already knew which opponents the Dolphins would face in 2011, but tonight we learned when they would play those teams. The 2011 NFL season is still about five months away and who knows how long the lockout will continue to jeopardize the year. But the new schedule gives the Dolphins a clean slate and a renewed sense of optimism after the bitter taste last year’s 7-9 record left in our mouths. Let’s take a look at the brand new schedule.

Week 1: Monday, Sep. 12 7:00 p.m.
Dolphins vs. Patriots

Week 2: Sunday, Sep. 18 4:15 p.m.
Dolphins vs. Texans

Week 3: Sunday, Sep. 25 1:00 p.m.
Dolphins at Browns

Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 02 4:15 p.m.
Dolphins at Chargers

Week 5: Bye

Week 6: Monday, Oct. 17 8:30 p.m.
Dolphins at Jets

Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 23 1:00 p.m.
Broncos at Dolphins

Week 8: Sunday, Oct. 30 1:00 p.m.
Dolphins at Giants

Week 9: Sunday Nov. 06 1:00 p.m.
Dolphins at Chiefs

Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 13 1:00 p.m.
Redskins at Dolphins

Week 11: Sunday, Nov. 20 1:00 p.m.
Bills at Dolphins

Week 12: Thursday, Nov. 24 4:15 p.m.
Dolphins at Cowboys

Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 04 1:00 p.m.
Raiders at Dolphins

Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 11 1:00 p.m.
Eagles at Dolphins

Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 18 1:00 p.m.
Dolphins at Bills

Week 16: Saturday, Dec. 24 1:00 p.m.
Dolphins at Patriots

Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 01 1:00 p.m.
Jets at Dolphins

The first thing that stands out is obviously the big Monday Night Football opener Week 1 against the Pats and the other MNF game Week 6 at the Jets. For the second year in a row the NFL has given the Dolphins a golden opportunity to make a strong early season push in the AFC East race on primetime. Last year Miami squandered away a great opportunity to jump out to any early lead in the division with back-to-back losses to the Jets and Patriots at home on primetime. They surely can’t afford to the same in 2011 if they want to be a legitimate contender in one of the league’s toughest divisions.

Thanksgiving provides another exciting opportunity for the Dolphins. In a game that has provided some memorable moments in years past, the Dolphins get to travel to Dallas to play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Football on Thanksgiving is one of the league’s most meaningful traditions, and it’s always more special when the Dolphins get to be a part of that.

On a concerning note, the Dolphins will have a difficult road in the season’s final three weeks. The Dolphins will face all three of their AFC East rivals in consecutive weeks and will be forced to travel to Buffalo in Week 15 and to Foxboro in Week 16, games that figure to produce frigid conditions if not snowstorms.

In what is basically a meaningless statistic, the Dolphins have the 11th hardest schedule in 2011, as their opponents were a combined 132-124 in 2010.