According to a report by the Miami Herald, the Dolphins are wary of Brandon Marshall’s ongoing off-field issues and are “worried about his future,” but not to the point of releasing him.

The Dolphins have to weigh Marshall’s long-term viability with the team because his history suggests trouble is coming again even if that trouble casts Marshall as a victim or a major player in the drama, as he was in the shooting death of former Denver teammate Darrent Williams.

The Dolphins, at this time, have no intention to break ties with Marshall, a source said Saturday. Miami reportedly has the option to break away from Marshall by not paying a $3 million option bonus that guarantees the player’s salary through 2012.

Not paying that bonus would let Marshall walk after only one season in Miami.

But the Dolphins today, right now, have no intention of releasing Marshall in that fashion. They will continue to gather facts about the latest incident and make plans based on those facts with the idea of keeping Marshall.

Yes, the team’s direction on the matter can change. But right now, the plan, written in sand rather than concrete, is to keep Marshall.

I wouldn’t expect that the Dolphins would release him after something like this. They knew what they were getting when they forked over two second round picks to acquire him from Denver, and then a $47.5 million contract. They knew of his past transgressions, including the fact that he had seven reported domestic violence incidents with his ex-girlfriend, and the fact that they weren’t acquiring a model citizen.

Marshall is trying to create a better image for himself, but this latest incident certainly won’t help. The elephant in the room is whether or not he provoked his wife to stab him. She claims she acted in self-defense, which isn’t shocking considering he has a history of allegedly putting his hands on women. (He claims he never laid a hand on his ex, but the police reports that she’s filed suggest otherwise.)

If Marshall’s wife did stab him because she was concerned for her life, then he and the Dolphins have a big problem here. I doubt he’ll be released either way, but now Miami feels the burden that Denver once did.

Dolphins’ receiver Brandon Marshall was stabbed in the stomach by his wife, Michi Nogami-Marshall, on Saturday and immediately went into intensive care. His wife has been arrested and charged with one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Marshall’s agent Kennard McGuire issued a statement on the situation saying: “This is a very difficult time for Brandon and family, thankfully he will make a full recovery,” McGuire said. “We simply ask that his privacy is respected.”

The 27-year-old apparently needed surgery to repair the wound, but no vital organs were pierced.

Marshall and his wife are no strangers to domestic violence. Just over two years ago, he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in Atlanta after allegedly getting into a fight with Michi, who was his fiancé at the time. The chargers were dropped the next day, however.

In a bad twist of irony, I interviewed Marshall right after he turned 27 in March and he expressed excitement that for the first time in several years, he was having a healthy offseason. He told me it was great not to have to recover from any surgeries and that he can concentrate on preparing for the football season instead of preparing for rehab.

While he likely won’t have to go through rehab, he’ll once again have to recover from another offseason surgery following his stabbing. Further details, including what provoked Nogami-Marshall to stab her husband, are not known at this time.

Update: Michi Nogami-Marshall has admitted to stabbing Brandon in the abdomen with a kitchen knife, but says her actions were in self-defense. Marshall originally told police that he had slipped and fell on a vase, but apparently the officers weren’t buying the story and took Nogami-Marshall into custody anyway. (Strange, I slip and fall on vases all the time – hard to believe that officers didn’t buy Marshall’s story.)