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GREEN BAY — Every year at this time, coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson talk at length about how there is no worse day at 1265 Lombardi Avenue than cutdown day. They talk about how they try to deliver the bad news with dignity and respect, about how much they loathe what they consider to be the most difficult part of their jobs.

And, they seem to genuinely mean it. While it’s obviously even tougher to be on the other side of the desk — as the guy being told he’s not good enough to be a member of the Green Bay Packers’ 53-man roster — Thompson, who played 10 years in the NFL before getting that same bring-your-playbook tap on the shoulder in 1985, seemingly agonizes over the process. It’s the primary reason you’ll never see the Packers on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” on his watch.

“As I’ve said before — and any of us in this business will say — this is really a difficult time,” Thompson said earlier in the week. “So we try to do it with respect and take care of our guys.”

All that said, when the Packers pare their 75-man roster down to the NFL-mandated 53 players before Saturday’s 3 p.m. deadline, it’ll be doubly difficult for them this year, as Thompson and McCarthy may have more players they’d like to hold onto than any time during their tenure.