The drop off in WR3 to WR4 isn't that much across the league. They're all about mediocre. Few teams have talent at their third WR. Higgins, Chase, Boyd is among, if not the best. And there are plenty of people on the Bengals boards and fanbase that don't appreciate Boyd.
We have no viable options behind WR1 (Diggs) as it stands now. Knox was inconsistent if not invisible in '23. Davis did not step up at WR and we cannot believe he will in '23. Harry, Sherfield, and Shakir are not legitimate threats on an NFL roster. We cannot blindly put faith in Kincaid being an answer when we had struggled so mightly to use TE1 in '22. Our backfield isn't going to drastically contribute, either.
When all is said and done the McBeane era will be defined by their inability to develop their drafted DL talent, their inability to find WR's, their wastefulness on OL, with the highlights being the big gamble on Josh, the development of the DB's and the change in character of this organization.