Not sure where you are getting all these drives but a general rule is you want to buy ones that are in good condition. And I don't mean just the front bezel, the whole thing needs to be clean and working. Which is going to cost more obviously.
Buying drives in "as-is" condition is much chepaer but then you need to be able to properly service them yourself. It's just like with anything mechanical really, used cars for example.

Anyway, my bet would be that drive is very dirty inside and both the ejection mechanism and the write protect sensor are just full of dust and perhaps tobacco residue. Note, not all 5.25" drives eject the disk, in some you just slide it in and out but there should be next to no resistance when doing so. If the floppy seems like it's grabbing something then it's a very good idea to investigate before any serious damage occurs.

Maybe if you remove the cover and see how it looks like when it operates. Also watch some of Adrian digital basement he services 5.25 drives a couple of times, and you seem to have a couple.