The other stuff might be funny money, if you plan to cut a guy before the contract runs out. If you sign a young guy like Barwin you are only cutting him if something goes wrong and he does not perform. If you don't plan on him playing out his contract then you certainly don't cut Mario Williams.
Not to mention the total contract and salary per year is what affects the cap number which is what we are talking about here.
If Barwin gets 5 years for $15-20 million gauranteed (with say 50 total), and Mario is at 6 years and 40 million gauranteed (and 80) total, then the cap number is not that different. One contract spreads it out to 10 million a year and the other to 13 million.
Obviously the deal with the lower gaurantee lets you get out of it easier, but that only matters if you care about future cap health (like 3-5 years down the road if you think one of these guys might be cut and the un-amortized bonus counts), or if you are worried about the health of Bob McNair's wallet.
Neither of those things should matter for a team that wants to win a superbowl next year. Spend the money and figure out the future in the future (when the cap skyrockets anyways, not to mention contracts will skyrocket in a few years with the salary floor, meaning Barwin's deal could be much bigger since everyone has to spend).
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