THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- It was time for the No. 23 overall pick, which meant that the New England Patriots were officially on the clock. The Los Angeles Rams used to own that selection, but they parted with it a little more than three weeks ago, using it to acquire the vertical threat that was once again a need in their offense. When Thursday night arrived and 22 picks had been made, Rams general manager Les Snead reminded the rest of the organization why being without a first-round pick wasn't all that bad.

In the war room, he played a highlight reel of Brandin Cooks, the wide receiver they acquired in return.

"It looked good," Snead said. "There were some oohs and aahs."

The Rams are without a pick in either of the first two rounds this year. Their first selection will be No. 87 overall, which will probably be announced around 9:45 p.m. ET on Friday. The rest of their draft is scheduled to take place Saturday, with three picks in the fourth round and four picks in the sixth.

The team's executives, scouts and coaches were in and out of their war room Thursday night, catching glimpses of a first round that saw Baker Mayfield (No. 1 to the Cleveland Browns), Sam Darnold (No. 3 to the New York Jets), Josh Allen (No. 7 to the Buffalo Bills) and Josh Rosen (No. 10 to the Arizona Cardinals) all get selected within the top 10.

Q Sushi, from nearby Westlake Village, catered at the Rams' facility, and at one point, Snead and his head coach, Sean McVay, dined in the cafeteria, going over how weird it felt to experience the first round in such a casual manner.

"It was different," Snead said. "And even different from last year when we didn’t have a first round because we had an early second round."

The Rams enter this draft in need of edge rushers and offensive linemen. Snead and McVay confirmed the obvious -- that they were never close to trading into the first round -- but didn't reveal much else. That was partly a byproduct of the strategy involved in the draft, but also the reality of picking so late in it.

So much remains uncertain.

"It’s exciting, just to be able to watch from a fan’s perspective tonight," McVay said. "And tomorrow it’ll be exciting as we kind of build up to 87.”