"You're close to a lot of your players," said Phillips, who has coached in the NFL for 41 seasons, "but I'm really close to Aqib."
"He's probably going to go down as one of the best D-coordinators ever to coach football," Talib said. "And just to have that relationship with him, it means a lot to me too."
Three years ago, Talib starred in Phillips' defense with the Denver Broncos. They clinched the AFC title with a victory over the New England Patriots, then defeated the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.
In one of Phillips' fondest memories from that playoff run, Talib placed a gold chain around Phillips' neck during media night and told the white-haired coach, who is old enough to be his grandfather, that he was "drippin'."
"I didn't know what that was," Phillips said, as he recalled the moment. Drippin', for the uninitiated, means you're really cool and possess some swag. Phillips caught on quickly and soon proclaimed that he was "Drippin' baby ... really drippin'."
"I started buying all that," Phillips said, referring to gold chains. "I'll get it out when we get to the Super Bowl."