HL-2270DW paper caught on a metal lip trying to feed..?

This one’s bizarre. I have a Brother HL-2270DW that can’t feed paper from the tray, but the issue is NOT the tray detect lever. Actually, I’ve already fixed that on this printer!

There’s a metal lip on the front edge of the printer, over where the tray goes, and paper will catch on this lip about 70% of the time, which makes the feed rollers squeal for a moment before the printer gives up and blinks the red light. I have already tried taping over the lip but paper still catches somehow. If I feed paper manually, the rest of the printer works fine.

I am absolutely positively sure that this isn’t the plastic lever problem, because I have a Brother network fax from the same era with the exact same printer hardware built into it where I have also defeated the plastic lever, and it can feed paper just fine.