Allen Park — The Detroit Lions continued the team’s offseason overhaul of its training staff, hiring Mike Sundeen to serve as the team’s new head athletic trainer.
Sundeen comes to Detroit after spending the past nine years as the assistant athletic trainer for the Denver Broncos. He replaces Kevin Bastin, who returned to serve a second stint as the team’s head trainer in 2021.
“Stepping away from the NFL again,” Bastin posted on LinkedIn earlier this month. “Many thanks to my fellow staff athletic trainers, equipment managers, ground crews, finance staff, team physicians and most of all my wife and family for letting me serve in this profession.”
Sundeen is the second major addition to Detroit’s training staff this offseason. He’s scheduled to serve under director of player health and performance Brett Fischer. He joined the Lions in February after serving as a physical therapist consultant for the Arizona Cardinals since 2007.
Additionally, the Fischer Institute, which Fischer founded in Arizona, provides performance training and rehab for professional athletes across several major sports leagues.
“He’s going to be a big part of our medical performance and medical advancement going forward,” general manager Brad Holmes said in February. “He came highly recommended. Just getting to know him through the process, we’re always looking to get better in all areas of our organization, and going through this process and getting to know Brett, I quickly saw what everybody was saying about him. He’s a forward thinker, he’s a collaborator and he’s going to head our medical process, working in conjunction with (director of sports performance) Mike Clark. We just want to get better with our medical performance in general, but most importantly, just our player well-being. I think Brett Fischer is going to be a huge cog in that.”
Sundeen earned his master’s degree in athletic training from the University of Connecticut and his bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Northern Colorado. Sundeen also serves on the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society Educational Committee.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers
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