I think it’s more than a little bit of a leap from one to the other.
Rejecting God is one thing . . .
Deciding to eat this heavenly fruit from tree A vs that fruit from tree B is a different order of thing.
You're 100% right. Adam and Eve did have free will. Exactly. And look where it got them.
Since the fall, men don't have the option of choosing righteousness on their own. On their own, they will always choose to sin against God. What is needed is God's free gift of grace through the Holy Spirit to change a man from God-defiant to God-compliant.
The change from the natural man to the spiritual man is a supernatural act of God's will, not men's. He determines whom to regenerate by the Holy Spirit whose leading will then enable that man to believe in Jesus Christ to the saving of his soul.