The YF-16 and YF-17 were a result of the victory by the Israelis in the 6 Day War in 1967 using Day VFR fighters. We had a competition to come up with our own DVFR fighter, and the YF-16 and YF-17 were the result. The problem was, that by the 1973 Mid East war, we found out the day of the Day VFR fighter was over. The Air Force picked the F-16, partly because it used the same engine as the F-15, and they needed money to fix the engine for both a/c. They then proceeded to weigh down the a/c with more stuff, like a working radar, increasing the weight. The problem, IMO, is the wing is too small, the wing loading too high. The Japanese liked the basic design, but had Grumman design a new wing with twice the wing area.
The Navy said the F-16 could never work on a ship, but that the YF-17 could be reworked a bit and be made to work. The result was the F-18A-D series. The problem with what is now called the legacy F-18 was insufficient endurance for shipboard operations. That eventually led to the F-18E/F Super Hornet, a bigger F-18, which as an F-4 driver I notice is identical in length, wing span, dry weight, wing area, etc., to the F-4, but the F-18E/F have the magic wing and vastly improved avionics, and increased fuel capacity compared to the F-4.
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