Defenders trying to tackle Tony Pollard next season better hope they like cartoons -- 'cause every time they grab the Dallas Cowboys star's right leg to bring him down now, they're gonna get a faceful of animated characters!!!
Pollard just got a slew of some of the greatest cartoon characters ever tattooed on his leg -- and the doodles are amazing, covering everything from his upper thigh to his ankle.
Andres Ortega and his Onder Ink team put the art on the Pro Bowl running back's leg this week ... flying out to Dallas for it all -- and you can see, it came out great.
There's nods to all kinds of TV show legends in the piece -- everyone from Tom and Jerry to Johnny Bravo to SpongeBob SquarePants to Scooby-Doo and the Rugrats are on it.
There's also images of Goku and Frieza from Dragon Ball Z ... and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are featured as well!!
Ortega tells us 25-year-old Pollard asked for the piece because he wanted to remember the good times he had while watching the shows as a kid.
In total, Ortega says it took about eight hours to finish the artwork.
Pollard now joins Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb as Cowboys stars who got some sick ink from Ortega this offseason -- but the tattoo artist tells us he isn't done with Dallas football players just yet ... Trevon Diggs is up next!!