That sounds handicapped.
It makes sense in theory.
The Fermi paradox is that the probability of intelligent life is really high, given the prevalence of galaxies, stars within those galaxies, and earth-like planets that must be around some of those stars.
Yet we have absolutely no evidence for extra-terrestrial life, intelligent or not.
So, if it's so probable that intelligent life, like us humans, should arise, then why aren't we seeing evidence of them?
One theory is that there is some sort of filter on life, or rather, something that either prevents intelligent life altogether, or prevents it from making contact with other intelligent life.
We can either assume that this filter is behind us in our evolutionary history (for example, it might be really difficult for organic life to even start, hence no life out there because it's really really rare). Or it might be difficult for life to evolve enough to become intelligent. In which case we were lucky to pass it, and as a species, we might just thrive and survive for millennia.
Or we can assume the filter is ahead of us. That most intelligent life gets to be as intelligent as us, but something usually forgets it up before it can get to colonising or meeting other species. This could be nuclear-war killing off intelligent species, or natural disasters, or just a lack of resources to even attempt to colonise/search.
If we find life on Mars, and it evolved seperately from us, then that suggests that it's actually quite likely that life will begin (because it would be low odds that life began, independently, on two neighbouring planets in the same solar system). Which means it is likely life could become intelligent.
So how come we don't see intelligent life out there? Because the filter must be further ahead than us.
It would suggest that every time life starts out there, it has an easy time up until becoming intelligent, and then it either destroys itself, or gets destroyed, or just isn't capable of reaching out.
Which means that chances are we will eventually hit the same filter. We'll either kill ourselves off, or an extinction event will occur, or we'll just never have the resources to leave our solar system, or send signals out that far.
So finding simple life on Mars, especially if it is still living, could theoretically be bad news for us.
