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A new season means new signings and new squad numbers. Per the New York Red Bulls' website, the process of allocating numbers to the new members of the team has started. Dan Metzger has been assigned the #6 shirt.
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Among the many treasures to be found at MetroFanatic.com is a comprehensive list of every MetroStars and RBNY player by shirt number. From this we learn that Metzger is the 12th player to have worn the #6 for this twice-named club.
The most recent was Anthony Wallace, who spent 2015 with RBNY. The best known was arguably Teemu Tainio, who was with RBNY for two seasons (2011 and 2012), wearing #6 for his last year as a Red Bull. The most accomplished #6 in team history, however, was surely Seth Stammler, who wore the 6 for both MetroStars and RBNY and racked up 157 all-competitions appearances in seven seasons with the club.
Like Stammler, Metzger played his college soccer for Maryland. Like Stammler, Metzger was pulled into MLS in the second round of the Draft - though in 2004, when Stammler was picked, it was not a SuperDraft and a late second round selection meant #18 overall. Metzger was the last pick of the second round of the 2015 SuperDraft: #42 overall.
Their stories diverge at that point. Stammler was picked by the MetroStars and put in a seven-season, one-club career with a team that couldn't quite return the favor (since it changed to RBNY in 2006). Stammler is currently seventh on the club's all-time appearances list.
Metzger was drafted by D.C. United, not RBNY. But he was not signed by DCU and landed with NYRB II in 2015. Two seasons and one USL Championship later, the Red Bulls' Academy alum is on the first team roster at 23 - a year older than Stammler was when he was drafted by RBNY.
The Red Bulls' #6 shirt has something of the burden of history about it, but that weight was mostly added by the last Maryland midfielder to wear it. If the latest one can get close to the career of the first, RBNY fans have a lot of Dan Metzger to look forward to.